--- title: "The Help: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-help/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-help" critics_score: 65 critics_reviews: 14 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Help (2011): what the critics said Critics' score 65 from 14 reviews: 8 positive, 4 mixed, 2 negative. Most critics respond warmly to The Help, with praise clustering around the cast rather than its treatment of history. Viola Davis is the clearest point of agreement: even sceptical reviews find that her performance gives the drama weight, while Octavia Spencer draws frequent praise for her warmth and comic timing. Emma Stone also has admirers, and the favourable reviews credit the ensemble with making a sentimental story moving and funny. The spread is wide, however, with disagreement over how much the performances compensate for the film’s softened account of racism. Some critics accept the gloss as part of an effective popular drama; others find the storytelling cosy, predictable or too eager to reassure. Slant Magazine objects specifically to making the white protagonist the hero of the maids’ story, while The Independent finds that the premise produces too little tension and resolves its difficulties too easily. ## Time Out — Cath Clarke Rating 4/5. 25 October 2011. The critic is sold on this brazen Oscar-baiter about black maids publishing a memoir in 1960s Mississippi, despite some sentimentality and historical gloss. The heartfelt, hilarious film is elevated by a dream-team cast topped by Viola Davis. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-help) ## Total Film — Jane Crowther Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 31 October 2011. The film turns potentially mushy material into something genuinely stirring thanks to its talented cast and director. Standout performances from Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Emma Stone, plus strong comic timing and likeability, make it a ladies'-night crowd-pleaser. [Read the review](https://www.gamesradar.com/the-help-review/) ## Empire — Anna Smith Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 17 October 2011. A well-made, stirring drama with terrific performances that mostly works despite occasional patronising moments. It benefits from a quality cast, moving story, fizzy dialogue and strong period detail. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/help-2-review/) ## Vulture Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 10 August 2011. The film is too soft and glossy with TV-style close-ups but delivers a thorough emotional workout that plays like effective soap opera. It belongs to Viola Davis, whose tough and beautifully judged performance gives the movie a spine. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/2011/08/movie_review_the_help.html) ## Evening Standard Fi1m's normalised score 55/100 (inferred from the text). 28 November 2013. Strong central performances, especially from Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, make the film watchable despite its flaws. The story offers only a partial, overly cosy and white-savior view of segregation and race relations in 1960s Mississippi. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-help-review-7427323.html) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Kirk Honeycutt Fi1m's normalised score 55/100 (inferred from the text). 7 August 2011. The film is a self-conscious and self-congratulatory portrait of the Jim Crow South that idealizes its white heroine and relies on facile characters. It succeeds through two magnificent, award-worthy performances by Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/help-film-review-219915/) ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 7 August 2011. This is a nicely cast but otherwise pedestrian adaptation of the bestseller that meanders through incidental scenes and lacks dramatic momentum. Performances by Viola Davis and Jessica Chastain stand out amid the mixed bag. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/the-help/5030621.article) ## Slant Magazine — Andrew Schenker Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 9 August 2011. The film excels when relating black experience through the maids' stories but reduces much else to cheap historical ironies and thesis-declaiming dialogue. It ultimately centers the white protagonist Skeeter as the real hero in a paternalistic take on the material. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-help/) ## The Independent Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 12 March 2012. The film lets its risky premise resolve far too easily and without real tension. It is the softest, fluffiest take on racial oppression imaginable. [Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-the-help-7554550.html) ## Los Angeles Times — Betsy Sharkey 10 August 2011. The film is a delicious, peppery Southern stew of racism that turns feel-bad material into a heart-warming surprise through laughter and strong performances. The cast, led by Davis, Stone, and Spencer, and Taylor's deep Southern roots give it emotional charge and specificity. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-aug-10-la-et-the-help-20110810-story.html) ## The Guardian — Xan Brooks 27 October 2011. The film is an airbrushed fairytale but rousingly effective in its account of the push for racial equality. It features strong performances from Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, with Emma Stone as the catalyst. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/oct/27/the-help-film-review) ## The New Yorker — David Denby 8 August 2011. The movie is crude and obvious in places but opens up new experience on screen and is moving and well-acted enough that second-rate elements matter less. Taylor brings out the best in his cast, especially Davis and Spencer, while focusing on female friendship under pressure. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/08/15/maids-of-honor) ## The New York Times — Manohla Dargis 10 August 2011. The film is a big, ole slab of honey-glazed hokum that strains for tears with its pileup of calamities. Viola Davis's performance as Aibileen gives the movie needed gravity and dimension amid its buoyant tone. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/10/movies/the-help-spans-two-worlds-white-and-black-review.html) ## The Telegraph 26 October 2011. Emma Stone is sparkling in this hugely enjoyable adaptation of the bestseller. It concentrates on personal injustices rather than broad politics and features fine comic and dramatic turns from the cast. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/8850312/The-Help-review.html) ## Variety — Peter Debruge 7 August 2011. It is a stirring black-empowerment tale that personalizes the civil rights movement through domestic servants' testimony. The adaptation has Southern sass, feel-good sensitivity, and strong ensemble appeal, especially among its target audience. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2011/film/reviews/the-help-1117945766/) ## HeyUGuys — Lisa Giles-Keddie Rating 5/5. 25 October 2011. The critic calls Taylor’s take a profound and rousing triumph with lasting universal appeal. Standout performances from Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer are singled out for praise as they bring warmth, humanity and award-worthy depth to the central roles. [Read the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-help-review/) ## The Playlist — The Playlist Staff Rating B. 9 August 2011. A well-intentioned drama buoyed by strong performances, especially Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, that lift it above a potentially Hallmark-style story. The critic praises the Southern charm and focus on the maids but notes it is predictable, overly tidy and not particularly groundbreaking or challenging. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/review-the-help-a-well-intentioned-drama-boosted-by-strong-performances-20110809/) ## Collider — Matt Goldberg Rating B-. 10 August 2011. The film delivers powerful emotional moments thanks to strong performances, especially Viola Davis as Aibileen, but stumbles with uneven character shading, an overly faithful adaptation, unnecessary subplots, and excessive length. [Read the review](https://collider.com/the-help-review/) ## Eye for Film — Amber Wilkinson Rating 3.5/5. 26 October 2011. A good story well told with an immersive quality and startlingly good performances from the entire cast, particularly Stone, Davis and Spencer. The critic notes an uneasy feeling about the film’s time-capsule approach to racism but ultimately finds the emotional notes attractive despite some heaviness. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-help-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson) ## Digital Spy — Stella Papamichael Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 22 October 2011. The adaptation feels like a sanitised version of the truth about the experiences of black maids in 1960s Mississippi. Viola Davis delivers a quiet expression of strength as Aibileen, and the emerging trust between her and Skeeter is gratifying to watch. [Read the review](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a343590/the-help-review/) ## The Wrap 9 August 2011. The critic calls it an enjoyable message movie and urges readers to see it. They single out its focus on the power of storytelling as both meta subject and source of terrific, entertaining tales from the characters. [Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/help-shares-power-story-telling-1960s-mississippi-29941/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-help.md