Actress Jennifer Garner says her new film, “Butter,” wasn’t intended to send up the Tea Party, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann or former Gov. Sarah Palin.
Tell that to the film critics who torched the film for its mean spirited take on all of the above. The left of center Entertainment Weekly weighed in with this pan:
… for my vote, the movie has the backfiring effect of making its liberal core audience look just as smug, self-righteous, and condescending as conservative opposition insists it is. The dairy product in the title refers to a butter-carving competition that climaxes in a showdown between a pageant-pretty, small-minded, scheming, conservative heartland wife with the vinegar-y name of Laura Pickler (Jennifer Garner) and a talented, open-minded African-American foster child with the sweet, Beyoncé-like name of Destiny (Yara Shahidi). Any allusions to Sarah Palin and Barack Obama are strictly intentional, especially since Garner plays around with a Palinesque voice and accent.
That doesn’t mention the Harvey Weinstein-created stunt where the filmmakers invited Bachmann herself to screen the film.
Garner isn’t just the star of the movie. She produced it. Yet she shrugs her shoulders at the notion of it being politically charged. She doesn’t mind if you see it that way, though.
It’s a typical dance performed by stars on the press circuit trying to promote liberal agenda films. They deny the product’s intent because they know it may turn off some potential movie goers. They make the films all the same in the hopes of influencing a few voters along the way.