Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

nicholls_les Black or White is the story of a grandfather (Kevin Costner) who is suddenly left to care for his beloved mixed race granddaughter.When her paternal grandmother (Octavia Spencer) seeks custody the usual legal battles begin.Based on real events, the movie doesn't gloss over anything. Costner gives a brilliant performance and his little speech when asked if he is racially prejudiced is brilliant and honest.The little girl Jillian Estell playing Eloise is one to watch as she grows up and I hope she carries on as an actress because she did a great job here.Anthony Mackie is good as Jeremiah and Paula Newsome is perfect as Judge Cummings (she bears a startling resemblance to a young Oprah Winfrey which was a bit distracting) Overall a good film and one that anyone with any racial prejudices should watch.

leonblackwood Review: As I hadn't heard of this movie before and Costner's previous movies haven't been that great, I wasn't really expecting much from this emotional drama but I must say, I really enjoyed it. The performances are great and the witty script is full of drama right from the get go. Kevin Costner plays Elliot Anderson, who finds out that his wife has died in an car accident, so he turns to alcohol for comfort. The following morning he hides the alcohol bottles from his mixed race granddaughter, Eloise (Jillian Estell) and he gets her ready for school. As he doesn't know her regular routine, Eloise tells him what to do but he still gets lost whilst driving her to school, because he has never been there before. When he finally drops her off, he returns home to organise the funeral arrangements with his best friend Rick (Bill Burr) and his girlfriend Fay (Gillian Jacobs). Because Elliot is drinking, Rick takes Elliot to pick up Eloise from school, we're he tells her about the tragic accident. At the funeral, Eloise's other grandmother, Rowena (Octavia Spencer), attends with her large family and talks to Elliot about Eloise living with them but he's happy with the way things are. As Elliot struggles to help Eloise with her homework, he hires a tutor, Duvan (Mpho Koaha) to help both of them and he reveals that his daughter died whilst giving birth to Eloise. Elliot then finds out that Rowena wants to sue him for custody, via her brother Jeremiah (Anthony Mackie), whose a hot shot lawyer with high credentials. Elliot then pays Duvan to drive him around, because of his unhealthy drinking habit and he drives him to Rowena's house because he wants her to drop the court case. She accuses him of not wanting Eloise to know her black roots so Elliot mentions that she is going to a good school and she is living in a safe neighbourhood. He also mentions the problems that her son Reggie (Andre Holland) caused there family while he was addicted to crack, which doesn't go down to well. Jeremiah then convinces his sister to play the race card and he hires a black judge to take the case. After the initial hearing, Elliot keeps on drinking while Eloise is seeing a psychiatrist and starts to ask questions about her dad. Reggie then shows up at Elliot's office, asking for money to clear his debts in return for staying out of the proceedings, which will give Elliot a better chance of winning. He asks him to see Eloise because she has been asking for him, so she gets dressed up and waits for his arrival but he doesn't turn up. After another night hitting the bottle, Rowena's family turn up at Elliot's house to go swimming and Reggie sits outside, nervous to join them. Because Reggie didn't see Eloise the night before, Elliot confronts Reggie and he tells him a few home truths. Reggie then spends some time with his daughter and Elliot offers him $25,000 to get clean, which he takes whilst saying that he is off the drugs. Back in the courtroom, Reggie tells the judge that Elliot bribed him with the cash and later on that night, Reggie takes Eloise from Elliot's house. When the maid calls Elliot to tell him about the ordeal, he rushes to Rowena's to see Eloise playing the piano during a musical gathering and he can see Reggie smoking and drinking across the road. After a violent confrontation, he warns him to stay away from Eloise and he tells Rowena the true reason why he gave him the money. Back at court, Duvan tells the judge about Elliot's drinking and Reggie says his rehearsed lines. When Elliot takes the stand, he talks about the problems that he had with Reggie in the past and he's questioned about the time he will be able to spend with Eloise, when he goes back to work. Later on that night, Reggie turns up at Elliot's house, asking for more money and he pulls a knife on Elliot, which leads to a fight. After falling into the pool with a head injury, Reggie goes upstairs to get Eloise. He then sees pictures that Eloise has drawn of him and her grandparents and he sees some old pictures of her mum, which brings him back to his senses. He then goes back to the pool and saves Elliot's life, whilst constantly apologising for the way he treated Elliot's daughter. A week later, Reggie admits that he isn't ready to be a father and that he has to go away to get himself together so Elliot doesn't mention the alteration at his house. Rowena admits that Elliot has Eloise's best interest at heart so she also drops her charges. After a while, Elliot drops Eloise at Rowena's house because he needs a couple of weeks to get himself together but he still wants Duvan to tutor her and take her to school. A warm hearted film which covers some delicate matters! I personally didn't want the film to end and I found the chemistry between Costner and Eloise, touching. I'm glad to see that the movie made a profit because it really did deserve it. Great Watch!Round-Up: This movie was directed by Mike Binder who brought you Indian Summer, the awful Blankman, the Upside of Anger and Reign Over Me, which I really enjoyed. He really did put together a great film and he got the most out of the actors, so I have to give credit when it's due. Budget: $9million Worldwide Gross: $21.5millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their dramatic movies starring Kevin Costner, Octavia Spencer, Jillian Estell, Anthony Mackie and Gillian Jacobs and Jennifer Ehle. 7/10

Screen_Blitz After the death of his wife, Elliot Anderson (played by Kevin Costner), a former husband and father, becomes the guardian of his bi-racial granddaughter Eloise (played by Jillian Estell). Her mother died while giving birth, and her dad Reggie (played by Andre Holland) has distanced himself from her. Thus, Elliot is set with new responsibilities such as getting her ready for school for every morning, driving her school, picking her up, and making sure she gets her homework done. When Rowena (played by Octavia Spencer), her African- American grandmother from her dad's side sees distrust in Elliot being Eloise's legal guardian, a court battle for the custody of Eloise ensues between Elliot and her (Rowena), along with her family.This comedy-drama tackles major issues involving racism and dysfunctional relationships. When Rowena convinces Elliot that Eloise would be better living with her and her family, he rejects and Rowena comes under the suspicion that he has an issue with African- Americans. This soon becomes a key point in the plot. The problem Elliot has with her family is being the legal guardian of this little girl is that he doesn't see trust in them. Rowena's son Reggie, who is Eloise's father abandoned her (Eloise) when her mother died and he became a drug-addict and involved in crime. In the process, it ended up damaging his relationship with Eloise. There later comes a subplot where Reggie tries to reconnect with her. Then Rowena doesn't Elliot because he develops a drinking problem and he she doesn't believe he is capable of taking care of her on his own. Basically, the movie touches on many serious topics. The only problem is that when the plot tackles all these issues, it tends to get a little off-balance at times, then it becomes little less clear on what direction is the plot is going.Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer are really great in this. They both demonstrated some amazing performances. They both have their occasional funny scenes, as well as their dramatic scenes. The film has very some very touching moments here and there, especially towards the end. Overall, this is film does great as a feel-good comedy-drama and it is worth watching.

Roland E. Zwick As movie genres go, the race-based social drama has always been a bit of a minefield for those willing to try to tiptoe their way across it. The risks are many. Either you wind up indulging in offensive stereotypes, or you go so overboard in the opposite direction that you transform some of the uglier realities of life into a sugarcoated pill largely designed to make the audience feel better about themselves and the world around them.I'm here to report that "Black or White," written and directed by Mike Binder, makes it through the minefield largely intact, but there are definitely a few minor explosions along the way. Based loosely on a true story, the movie features Kevin Costner as a recently widowed grandfather of a mixed-race child (Jillian Estell) whom he and his late wife raised as their own when their daughter died in childbirth. Now that he's on his own, some interested parties are beginning to question whether Elliot is truly fit to parent the child full-time.Elliot's main challenger in this regard is Eloise's paternal grandmother, Rowena Jeffers (Octavia Spencer), a successful small business woman with a large and thriving family, the sole exception being Reggie (Andre Holland), the girl's father, who is both a crack addict and a habitual lawbreaker. However, Elliot has his own trouble with addiction, in his case alcohol, which pretty much neutralizes his argument against having Reggie in little Eloise's life.Despite a certain slickness in its execution, "Black or White" achieves some truth by not picking sides, by allowing all the concerned parties to make their case without undue favoritism or judgment. Yet, in scope and execution. the movie ultimately feels too "small" for the subject it's attempting to tackle, a condition highlighted by the film's unfortunate slide into cheap melodrama towards the end."Black or White" is ultimately a minor addition to the long list of movies that have explored race relations lo these many decades, but its evenhandedness and sincerity make it one of the good ones.