BUTTER (2022) 

Trigger Warning: Suicide 

 

Based on the novel of the same name, Butter is a melted, slippery mess. It follows a high school student his classmates call Butter. After feeling defeated in his non-successful weight loss journey, he decides to eat himself to death live on the internet for the world to see. I have never read the book, so I can't speak to what the moral of the novel is. As a movie, it has no clue what message it's trying to convey.

 

One crucial thing it definitely doesn't convey well is the topic of suicide. It desperately struggles to be a dark comedy in the vein of 2009’s World’s Greatest Dad or even 2017’s Happy Death Day, but it's executed horribly making it feel like a wobbly, out of touch romp. Every other decision Butter makes turns into the debate of if he should go through with it based on how his classmates react. The kids in his class don't think he will actually do it, which is why they won’t tell authorities. Red flag, much? The issue is that everyone treats the situation so nonchalantly that I couldn't see past how tone deaf it comes off. 

 

The strongest aspect of the entire dumpster fire is McKaley Miller, who gave a stellar performance above all. She was the only character worth watching, with a brilliant moment towards the end that hopefully lands her future roles. 

Normally I am one for encouraging viewership of movies I dislike because honestly, what do I know, right? However, in this case, I have no idea what target audience this was intended for. The poor handling and execution of the deeply troubling subject matter, just to write it off as a dark comedy and think nobody would notice is just plain irresponsible. I heavily advise avoiding this one. If you like morbid dark comedies that actually do the job, I implore you to just watch World’s Greatest Dad instead.