“The Help,” currently playing at the Fandango Galaxy cineplex in Carson City, is a welcome relief from such summer films as the ugly “Change-Up.” No explosions, no car chases, no exploitive scenes for the teens among us. Instead it’s a portrait of life in Mississippi in the 1960s and the near-infinite gap between the whites and their black maids and cooks.

There are three stars here — Emma Stone as Skeeter, a white recent college grad come back home to start a career in journalism; Viola Davis as Abileen Clark, a maid for the town’s chief women’s leader (Hilly Holbrook, played by Bryce Dallas Howard); and Minny Jackson as Octavia Spencer, an outspoken maid who’s sass has gotten her fired, although her baking skills ensure her of a cook’s job.

Stone is the binder that keeps the movie together, although she is upstaged by Davis and Jackson. Some surprises in the cast such as Sissy Spacek as Hilly’s mother and Cicely Tyson as Constace Bates and Mary Steenburgen as Elaine. And Jessica Chastain lifts dull moments with her innocence. She’s a thorn in the side of the Selma estabalishment.

Plot line is Skeeter finds the maid who raised her has been fired and sent off to Chicago to die. She gets a job at the local newspaper and then gathers anonymous stories about the black maids’ lives into book. She sits down with the maids and takes down their stories and arranges for them to be published as a book, “The Help.” This enrages Hilly and upsets things in Jim Crowe Selma.

It’s a little surprising that director Tate Taylor got backing to make this film (he co-authored the script) when bombs and fantasy seem rule summer screens, but on Saturday afternoon the showroom was filled and the audience interested enough to even stay for the credits.

As a story about racial strife in the ’60s there’s not a lot new, but it is recalled with sympathy for all involved; even Hilly wins a few moments, thanks to Howard’s handling of an unsympathetic role.

But, of course, it’s Emma Stone who hangs things together so that Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer can make the tensions come alive with their warm relationship. The three, along with director Taylor and the original novel by Kathryn Stockett which set the tone for it all, did handsomely with their parts of the film. Doubtful if you’ll see anything as good or with as much meaning as this portrait of a less integrated and meaner society, although “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” was pretty good and also carried a message.

Yes, there are some scenes tossed in that don’t advance the story, but that’s a cheap price to pay for a film that lifts the summer movie scene without big names or big bangs. Relive those days when there were two drinking fountains and “colored” was an acceptable word. And be glad you’re seeing it now in a movie house.
— Sam Bauman

Cast
• Emma Stone as Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, a college graduate and aspiring writer.
◦ Lila Rogers as Young Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan
• Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly Holbrook, the town’s snooty ringleader.
• Viola Davis as Aibileen Clark
• Octavia Spencer as Minny Jackson
• Mike Vogel as Johnny Foote, Hilly’s ex-boyfriend and Celia’s husband.
• Allison Janney as Charlotte Phelan, Skeeter’s mother.
• Chris Lowell as Stuart Whitworth, Skeeter’s boyfriend and a senator’s son.
• Jessica Chastain as Celia Foote, Minny’s naive employer and Johnny’s wife.
• Sissy Spacek as Mrs. Walters, Hilly’s mother.
• Ahna O’Reilly as Elizabeth Leefolt, Aibileen’s employer.
• Brian Kerwin as Robert Phelan, Skeeter’s father.
• Leslie Jordan as Mr. Blackly
• Dana Ivey as Grace Higgenbottom
• Cicely Tyson as Constantine Bates
• Mary Steenburgen as Elain Stein
• Anna Camp as Jolene French
• David Oyelowo as Preacher Green
•
Directed by Tate Taylor
Produced by Chris Columbus,
Michael Barnathan,
Brunson Green
Screenplay by Tate Taylor
Based on The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Music by Thomas Newman
Cinematography Stephen Goldblatt
Editing by Hughes Winborne S
tudio DreamWorks Pictures
Running time 137 minutes, rated PG-13