Butter is a high school movie about an overweight kid who decides to flip the script by advertising his own suicide by large meal and experiences a bump in popularity as a result. It’s a cross between Shallow Hal and Pattycake$, which is to say it’s a movie that appears to normalize fatness with self-deprecating humor (“Do I look like someone who runs?” “Do I look like someone who hikes?” “Do I look like someone who…” you get the point), but actually reads as more of a PSA for teen suicide.
The original premise contains the potential for humor, even if it’s not quite original. Much like in Pattycake$, the main character must compensate for his body by being extraordinary at music and driving fast cars. He maintains a romantic relationship with a classmate by essentially catfishing her online–in an early scene a similarity in costumes actually makes it seem like he’s maybe unknowingly sexting his mom online, which actually might have been a better short-term gag. The romance plot line becomes a comedy of errors as the girl at school befriends Butter at school, but they don’t actually share that much in common, and Butter doesn’t make very much effort. One of the last scenes in the second act is an autopsy of his deception, which is actually quite satisfying to hear voiced by a character, even if most of it reads like a weird false equivalence of fat people and hot girls moving through the world and the internet.
On this plot point, I think one of the most interesting stories told about the transition from fat to popular was told a few years back by This American Life’s Elna Baker. Elna is funny and gentle and biting and vulnerable about her experiences, her drug use and self-esteem issues. Butter feels a little one note in comparison. The protagonist eats as an emotional salve, his mother feeds him to make him feel better, and his father inexplicably has iced him out for years for being big.
The film tries to give him some role models who can deploy good advice, Professor, the band teacher at school, and the infinitely understanding and funny Ravi Patel who plays Dr Bean, Butter’s general physician. These two characters are the only people of color in the film and fill uncomfortable tropes as the brown best friends. Dr Bean has some moments when he can drop some pretense at the end of the movie, which broadens his character a little, but Professor doesn’t have a chance to be much more than adoring fan and father surrogate for Butter.
The actor who plays Butter is playing a character that doesn’t quite land. Partially, the issue is that he is playing the role in a “fat suit” (Wife pointed out after two minutes of watching before noping out of it), but also his lines are stiff. Butter speaks with a practiced cool and equanimity that doesn’t fit with his character’s lack of self-esteem. He comes off as stiff and a little insincere, typified by any scenes he’s in with his friend who’s going off to the Institute in Chicago. In the trailer, you get a sense for the tone deafness of this movie and its artificiality when he’s bopping in his fancy car with a bunch of high school students–like you do.
The final act of this movie, which constitutes about forty-five minutes, is entirely a cliché about online bullying, attempted teen suicide, and their consequences. There is no pay off, no original contributions, or variations on the theme of being fat in America as a teen. The movie is a casualty of its own lack of imagination about how to follow through on its dark premise of suicidal wish fulfillment.
If you or someone you know is having a hard time, you can direct them to the National Suicide Hotline or call 1-800-273-8255, and if you want to help give back, you can volunteer to help others.
