12 May 2013. Surprisingly better than would be expected, this rather remarkable fusion of the delicate blending of comedy and drama that Jennifer Garner is able to pull off successfully is a work of either wickedly lucky directing and acting or a wonderfully brilliant but risky work of seriously hard-hitting meanness soften somehow by humor and lightness. This oil and water mixture somehow comes out like butter on the hotplate unburned. With echoes of similar comedy-drama competition genres such as Bottle Shock (2008) and Blow Dry (2001),the fascinating focus is a dueling plot line between a girl and a woman with a Little Miss Sunshine (2006) or Jersey Girl (2004) mixture in it. Unlike the more serious tone of People Like Us (2012) or August Rush (2007),Butter still is able to capture a strong emotive punch from both the girl and Jennifer Garner's performance.

What a Country Crock. Indiana housewife Jennifer Garner is a complete phony. She's happy if she's butter queen, but the minute that's 15 year prize is taken away from her, she's as sour as Oleo. Garner and husband Ty Burrell have been butter statue creator winners for nearly two decades, and their happy marriage falls apart one of the committee members tells him that it's time to step down. She accuses him of having no butterballs, ridicules his choice of a career, then storms out. He's soon at a strip joint, she smashes his car, and F bombs drop like butter drippings off of corn on the cob. She's like the Stepford wife of butter queens, so perfect as long as everything is handed to her on a turkey platter, but her high cholesterol heart turns her into an ice princess when it's taken away. She plans to continue on in the competition without her husband involved, and it's obvious that she needs a diet therapy and a brain scan.

Trying too hard to be clever, this has many eye-rolling moments in its effort to ridicule conservatives and their alleged phony values. The characters just aren't likable outside of an orphaned black girl (Yara Shahidi) they take in. There's Olivia Wilde as a blackmailing exotic dancer, Ashley Greene as the daughter (treated by her mother as an outsider) and high-profile cameos by Hugh Jackman and Alicia Silverstone. It's an angry parody that makes midwesterners all look like idiots, but its own anger is what stands out and ultimately destroys it. I find it ironic that it was a miserable bomb on all sides, not attracting liberals or conservatives, and only making a fraction of its cost. It's also an embarrassing fiasco for Garner who's smugly seems to believe that she's being clever but just looks ridiculous.

After 15 years on top, Bob Pickler (Ty Burrell) is being pushed out of butter sculpting and he's fine with it. On the other hand, his ambitious wife Laura (Jennifer Garner) is not fine with it at all. While Bob seeks comfort from stripper Brooke/Tokyo Rose (Olivia Wilde) in his car, Laura crashes into them. Brooke still wants her $600 that she works so hard squeezing out of Bob. Laura enters the butter contest to continue the family winning streak. Brooke enters the contest to spite Laura. Meanwhile foster kid Destiny (Yara Shahidi) has another new family in Jill (Alicia Silverstone) and Ethan (Rob Corddry). She just wants to sculpt butter.

It's more quirky than funny. Even though it takes a lot of jabs at middle America, it's not anything terribly mean-spirited. For a dark comedy, it has very light tone. Other than Laura, everybody else is quite nice. In fact, it also takes jabs at the soy eating Jill. If there is any problematic stereotype, it's yet another wise old soul in a little black girl. They're better off to add a sharper edge to her character. There is a low simmering charm about this movie that grows over time. The funniest characters are the two edgier characters Laura and Brooke. They deliver a couple of funny moments.