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Spinning Into Butter

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Spinning Into Butter

R

Released Mar 20, 2009

1h 26m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

16%

Tomatometer

32 Reviews

32%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

Amid charges of racism, Sarah Daniels (Sarah Jessica Parker) leaves the school where she's been teaching and relocates to a small college in Vermont. There, she becomes dean without informing anyone of her past. After African-American student Simon Brick (James Rebhorn) becomes the victim of a hate crime, Daniels must confront her attitudes about race when she's called upon to resolve the situation and come up with a plan to defuse tension at the school.

Critics Consensus

Both leaden and stilted, Spinning into Butter is an unsubtle drama with stagy direction and lackluster dialogue.

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Anna King

Time Out

Rated: 1/5

Nov 17, 2011

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Cary Darling

Dallas Morning News

The biggest lesson from Spinning Into Butter has nothing to do with the ethics of race and more with realizing that every hit play doesn't need to be turned into a movie.

Rated: C+

Apr 17, 2009

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Peter Rainer

Christian Science Monitor

The staging by theater director Mark Brokaw, in his first feature, is, well, stagy. I don't mind a movie where people spend a lot of time jawboning, but what they say had better be interesting.

Rated: D+

Mar 30, 2009

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Sonny Bunch

Washington Times

Spinning Into Butter is the perfect example of a movie taking an interesting premise and, through incompetence of acting, writing and directing, turning it into an unwatchable mess.

Rated: 1.5/4

Aug 30, 2009

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Kevin Carr

7M Pictures

if you're not interested in a sermon, you'll want to skip this one

Rated: 2/5

Jun 15, 2009

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Brian Orndorf

DVDTalk.com

Butter makes a disastrous transition to film, aiming to salvage pertinent points on the witch's brew of racism through a filmmaking undertaking perhaps best described as "total clown shoes."

Rated: D

May 5, 2009

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Audience Member

Probably watched this movie for the wrong reason. This movie does make you think. Not all individuals think in terms of stereotypes. The reason the situation happened is really messed up. But, it's like people say, when you go looking for trouble, or you always expect it, you shouldn't be surprised when it finally happens.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

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Audience Member

it has this play feel to it and that doesn't translate well into being a movie. wanted to like it but ended up boring me.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

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Audience Member

?? film ???? ????? ?? ??? ???? ???????? ??? ?? ????????!!! ??? ??? ??? S.J.Parker...... ???????? ?? ??? ????? ???? ???????? ???? ??? ?? sex and the city......!

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

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Audience Member

This movie gets you thinking I just wish the plot was thought out a little more

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

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Audience Member

there are good racism movies. this is not one of them. this isn't much of good movie, period. incredibly stale and wooden performances from the entire cast, with the possible exception of Mykelti Williamson. the characters aren't sympathetic, the story is mired in political correctness, and the dialogue is so forced you almost have to wonder if it'd be a different film if people could say what they would naturally say instead of lines off a script. Rebecca Gilman's play is at least somewhat tolerable because it involves a bit of thinking on the audience's part. this does all your thinking for you, and it does a very poor job of it.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

there are good racism movies. this is not one of them. this isn't much of good movie, period. incredibly stale and wooden performances from the entire cast, with the possible exception of Mykelti Williamson. the characters aren't sympathetic, the story is mired in political correctness, and the dialogue is so forced you almost have to wonder if it'd be a different film if people could say what they would naturally say instead of lines off a script. Rebecca Gilman's play is at least somewhat tolerable because it involves a bit of thinking on the audience's part. this does all your thinking for you, and it does a very poor job of it.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

Full Review

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Mark Brokaw

Director

Sarah Jessica Parker

Sarah Daniels

Miranda Richardson

Catherine Kenney

Victor Rasuk

Patrick Chibas

Paul James

Simon Brick

Beau Bridges

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Synopsis

Amid charges of racism, Sarah Daniels (Sarah Jessica Parker) leaves the school where she's been teaching and relocates to a small college in Vermont. There, she becomes dean without informing anyone of her past. After African-American student Simon Brick (James Rebhorn) becomes the victim of a hate crime, Daniels must confront her attitudes about race when she's called upon to resolve the situation and come up with a plan to defuse tension at the school.

Director: Mark Brokaw
Producer: Ryan Howe, Norman Twain, Lou Pitt
Screenwriter: Rebecca Gilman, Doug Atchison
Distributor: Screen Media Ventures
Production Co: Norman Twain Productions, Whitsett Hill Films
Rating: R (Language)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 20, 2009, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 9, 2009
Box Office (Gross USA): $5.5K
Runtime: 1h 26m
Sound Mix: Dolby