The Help Hits the Big Screen

Last week, for the first time, I saw The Help in theaters. I read the book a couple of months ago, unaware they were making a movie until after I had already started it. I was excited that upon finishing the novel I would get the instant gratification of seeing it on the big screen without a long wait (Unlike my traumatizing experience with the Harry Potter movies- so much wait time between reading and watching- woe is me!)

The co-worker I saw it with had some strong reservations about the movie. She argued that some of the relationships were not developed as well as they were in the novel and that some of the scenes were cheesy. My counter-argument is as follows: "well duh, it's a movie."  In a novel you can go on for pages and pages about the intricacies of a relationship between characters, including paragraphs upon paragraphs of inner thoughts that simply can't be portrayed to their full extent in film. As for the moments of cheesiness, it’s a Disney/Dreamworks film and is therefore to be expected. The truth of the matter is when you watch a movie adaptation of any book you love, you have to be willing to settle or you will have a bad experience.

That said, I really enjoyed the film and was pleased with how true it stayed to the book. I thought the cast was fantastic, I appreciated that they didn’t focus on the romance between Skeeter and Stuart, and I laughed and cried at the appropriate moments (I will say I’m kind of an easy target though..). If you haven’t seen it yet, see it. But more importantly, READ THE BOOK!