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.
Critics Sentiment
Minny reveals the chocolate pie revenge against Hilly
Skeeter's newsletter misprint leads to commodes at Hilly's house
The film jumps from its lowest point with the commodes prank to emotional heights with Yule May's arrest motivating the maids.
The Help builds steadily from a well-crafted but conventional opening to increasingly powerful emotional peaks, particularly around the maids' personal stories and acts of resistance. The chocolate pie revelation serves as the film's comedic and symbolic high point, while the ending provides deeply satisfying closure despite some pacing concerns. Critics consistently praised the performances and emotional authenticity even when noting the film's occasionally sanitized approach to historical brutality.
Full cast
Showing 20 of 55
Emma Stone
Skeeter Phelan
Viola Davis
Aibileen Clark
Bryce Dallas Howard
Hilly Holbrook
Octavia Spencer
Minny Jackson
Jessica Chastain
Celia Foote
Ahna O'Reilly
Elizabeth Leefolt
Allison Janney
Charlotte Phelan
Anna Camp
Jolene French
Eleanor Henry
Mae Mobley
Emma Henry
Mae Mobley
Chris Lowell
Stuart Whitworth
Cicely Tyson
Constantine Jefferson
Mike Vogel
Johnny Foote
Sissy Spacek
Missus Walters
Brian Kerwin
Robert Phelan
Wes Chatham
Carlton Phelan
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor
Yule Mae Davis
Ted Welch
William Holbrook
Shane McRae
Raleigh Leefolt
Roslyn Ruff
Pascagoula
Crew
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