BLACK OR WHITE
Director: Mike Binder
Cast: Kevin Costner, Octavia Spencer, Jillian Estell, Bill Burr, Mpho Koaho, Anthony Mackie, Andre Holland, Gillian Jacobs, Jennifer Ehle, Paula Newsome
Rating: B-
Black or White will take a seat next to other race relations films like 12 Years a Slave, Crash, The Help and most recently Selma. A well-meaning film with plenty of heartwarming moments, this production never really makes the impact that some of its predecessors left when addressing the issues of racism in America.
After the death of their daughter, upper middle class white couple Elliot (Kevin Costner) and his wife Carol (Jennifer Ehle) have been raising their biracial 7-year-old granddaughter Eloise (Jillian Estell). A freak car accident the kills Carol and a distraught Elliot finds himself with the task of raising Eloise alone. Reggie (Andre Holland), the child’s black father, is a dead beat felon/junkie who is not involved in his daughter’s life, so he is not an option to raise the little girl. Barely into a routine of figuring out how to bring up his granddaughter, Elliot is approached by Rowena (Octavia Spencer), Reggie’s mother, and she proposes that there should be shared custody of Eloise. Rowena fears that Eloise will have a lost identity if she does not have a connection to her African American roots. Also known as Grandma Wee Wee, Rowena is a successful business woman with a big heart managing a large close knit family in south Los Angeles. Elliot is not on board with the idea of uprooting Eloise and allowing her to live on the other side of town with her black relatives. This starts a kind of modern day twist on a custody battle when Rowena decides to take Grandpa Elliot to court.
Rowena enlists the help of her brother Jeremiah, a slick and highly successful attorney, to make her argument that the child should be placed in the custody of the black side of her family. Jeremiah is out to prove that Elliot is nothing but a drunk and a closet racist trying to keep Eloise from knowing where she truly comes from. Reggie, suddenly resurfacing and claiming to be a reformed man, chooses to file a petition of his own for custody of his daughter complicating matters further.
What takes place is a courtroom drama with arguments on both sides of the fence on what is best for the child from two different cultural backgrounds. Elliot gives a grand and moving speech as Jeremiah tries to discredit him. We see Reggie fall apart in the courtroom when he is cross examined by Elliot’s attorney. We get a little humor added to the mix when Rowena alienates the judge and nearly gets handcuffed and thrown in jail for disrupting the courtroom. Providing some more comic relief is the random character of Duvan (Mpho Koaho), an African born math tutor, who has a knack of roping everyone he comes in contact with to read his research papers and believes that academics is the key resolving all problems in life. He has some great lines that do provide for a few good laughs.
Costner does a classic job as the grandparent standing up for what he believes is best for his little granddaughter. He is pretty much in every scene in the movie and has many heart-rending moments in the film. Octavia Spencer is perfectly cast as the sassy headstrong black women, but other than rolling her eyes and starring you down she is not really given too much else to do, which was such a waste of her acting abilities. Newcomer Jillian Estell adds a lot of charm playing the sweet child caught in the middle of the family tug of war. Anthony Mackie makes for an imposing figure as the gusty attorney looking for a win.
Despite some good moments, Black or White never really packs a punch when addressing issues regarding race in our society. It is never explored how being biracial effects Eloise and we never really know what the little girl is thinking. Another angle that is never explored is what caused Reggie to go down the wrong path when he had such strong family roots. There is one scene in which Elliot screams at Reggie that he is nothing but a “street nigger” and then later in the courtroom tries to justify the statement because he knew that Reggie used that term as a nickname when texting his daughter. Somehow the explanation of the racial slur just was not all that convincing. The movie is filled with both black and white stereotypes along with examples of typical misunderstandings both sides seem to have for each other that just seem too simple of an explanation for the tension that still exists between races in our society today. This story focuses more on the fear of a grandfather being labeled a racist rather than on racism itself. Throughout the movie both sides are adamant about their position so to resolve the issue and then (at what could have been a climax in the movie) the filmmakers throw in a ridiculous show down between Elliot and Reggie. Miraculously everything is resolved without any need for the courts to intervene. The need to wrap things up and bring the story to a close is about where the film really falls apart. This is a movie that tries too hard to make its point and ultimately bashes us over the head with the obvious.
Black or White will not be one of those powerful films to remember and ponder once it delivers its message. But, despite its weaknesses it does have plenty of tender and humorous moments that provide just enough entertainment to warm the heart and give a smile to those watching.
