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The Help

2011 2h 26m
Drama
MOVIEVIBE Rating
8.2/10
9,259 reviews
Your Rating
The Help

Aibileen Clark is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson is an African-American maid who has often offended her employers despite her family's struggles with money and her desperate need for jobs; and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is a young white woman who has recently moved back home after graduating college to find out her childhood maid has mysteriously disappeared. These three stories intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around "the help"; yet they are always kept at a certain distance because of racial lines.

"Change begins with a whisper."

Top Billed Cast

Emma Stone
Emma Stone
Skeeter Phelan
Viola Davis
Viola Davis
Aibileen Clark
Bryce Dallas Howard
Bryce Dallas Howard
Hilly Holbrook
Octavia Spencer
Octavia Spencer
Minny Jackson
Jessica Chastain
Jessica Chastain
Celia Foote
Ahna O'Reilly
Ahna O'Reilly
Elizabeth Leefolt
Allison Janney
Allison Janney
Charlotte Phelan
Anna Camp
Anna Camp
Jolene French

Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews

A Andres Gomez Verified TMDB Critic
2014-01-24

Great setting, cast, story and performances. A must to be seen....

D DoryDarko Verified TMDB Critic
2017-02-21

I just watched The Help, almost immediately after finishing the book. Now, when comparing The Film to The Book it was based on (generally speaking), one major rule of thumb almost always applies: The Book is better. The Help is no exception.

Accordingly, with the novel still so fresh in the back of my mind, separating my mind from the book in order to enjoy the film was an almost impossible task. No matter how hard you try, you just can't quit comparing the two, nitpicking every detail and being frustrated with everything they changed. Nevertheless, I was still able to enjoy the film for wh...

K Kamurai Verified TMDB Critic
2020-10-03

Great watch, probably won't watch again, and can recommend.

To be fair, you should watch this prepared for what it is:
a racial suffrage movie.

That means that it is filled with racism and unfair strife, and stupid jerks of the elite class that are under the impression that they can still buy and sell people because they do.

This is a fantastic movie, but it is a heavy, serious story, and the humor in it barely makes it more palatable in that regard.

The cast is filled with great actresses who give excellent performances, the script is well written, and the production value is gr...

C CinemaSerf Verified TMDB Critic
2025-02-08

I hadn’t quite realised the extent to which racial segregation laws permeated into every day life, especially when a black person couldn't cut a white child’s hair or write anything remotely disparaging about their white brethren. “Skeeter” (Emma Stone) returns from college and decides there might be a way around this. She will write the book, but a selection of women from their Mississippi homes will provide the meat for this literary sandwich. These women are maids who all have stories to tell, but she faces quite a battle convincing them to spill any beans. That’s partly from loya...

I iuvavum Verified TMDB Critic
2026-08-06

Sound, music, acting, sets, and camera are good in this movie but I do have concerns what the story is saying about african americans. Which is amazing as at its core it's your typical "good" vs "bad" guys story with a bit of romance sprinkled in but somehow manages to still portrait the underdogs good guys (black maids) as terrible people while most actions by the antagonists (white house wives) aren't really that evil if you think about it. For example: One of the maids asks her boss for a loan which gets denied and then feels entitled to steal from her workplace but soon after gets arrested...