* * * ½
(Simplistic racial
melodrama)
Kevin Costner plays Elliot, a lawyer whose wife died suddenly, leaving him to raise Eloise (Jillian Estell), his “half black” …
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* * * ½
(Simplistic racial
melodrama)
Kevin Costner plays Elliot, a lawyer whose wife died suddenly, leaving him to raise Eloise (Jillian Estell), his “half black” granddaughter.
More melodrama than comedy, “Black or White” treads carefully on racial issues and starts out as a downer as Elliot must tell his granddaughter of her grandmother’s death.
Eloise’s young white mother became pregnant by a ne’er-do-well black man. She died in childbirth and he takes off, leaving the white, wealthy grandparents to raise the child. To make matters worse, Elliot has a serious drinking problem.
When Rowena, the “other” grandmother (Octavia Spencer) fights for custody, things get quite complicated. Racial prejudice shows its ugly head on both sides before Rowena and Elliot can solve their differences.
The middle of the movie gets better, as Rowena and Elliot slug it out in court, but the ending, which involves a confrontation with Elliot and Eloise’s father, just doesn’t work.
There’s some mild humor, with good performances by Costner, Spencer, Estell and the supporting cast, and comic relief by Mpho Koaho as Eloise’s super-intelligent tutor, who drives Elliot around when he is too drunk to get behind the wheel. Paula Newsome plays the young, sarcastic, witty, black judge. She is fun to watch whenever she is on screen.
Besides the racial conflict, we get an interesting study of an alcoholic confronting a drug addict, each a stereotype of their opposite worlds.
Rated PG-13, with some profanity, violence and drug and alcohol abuse.
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