I've seen many movies that portray high school bullying and self harm- this one has a slight edge due to the saxophone music. And I thought the ending, while unrealistic and sickly-sweet, was rewarding.

However there were no laugh out loud moments and the relationship between the young man and his parents wasn't fully explored. The parents are essentially placed on the sidelines while their son is hurting, and they don't seem concerned at all about his morbid obesity nor do they encourage their son to exercise or diet. Some of this movie did seem downright exploitative and mean-spirited. So much so that the mother enables her son to eat high caloric meals, and she even seems shocked when her son cuts down on his portions.

In terms of the scenes with the high schoolers partying or hanging out, those do drag on. I didn't think I'd rate this above a 5, but the Professor and Doctor characters were fun to watch and were great advocates for Butter. As a whole, I think this movie is worth watching due to its musical interludes and emphasis on self respect and healthy relationships.

I saw Butter, starring Mira Sorvino-Stuber, The Replacement Killers; Brian Van Holt-Deputy_tv, Cougar Town_tv; McKaley Miller-Ma, Unfollowed and Alex Kersting-Stoneheart_tv, Drug Z.

This is a teen suicide/dangers of the internet movie. There is even a message at the end stating something to the effect of showing a place and phone number to contact if you know someone with suicidal tendencies. Alex plays a teenage high school kid that is obese-he weighs in at around 440 pounds. He is bullied at school and has no friends but he plays a mean saxophone. He likes a pretty classmate, McKaley, and he decides to befriend her on line-using an alias-saying he goes to school in another town. Mira and Brian are Alex's parents. Frustrated-Alex doesn't think he has a chance if McKaley ever saw him in person-Alex decides to eat himself to death, live on the internet on New Year's Eve. Unbelievably, this makes him popular at school and kids start talking to him and about his stunt. Some think he won't do it and others are hoping that he will. Will he or won't he, and how can he back out if he changes his mind? Should he confess to McKaley his identity? All questions are answered.

It's rated PG-13 for thematic content including suicide, language, drinking and sexual content-no nudity-and has a running time of 1 hour & 50 minutes.

It's not one that I would buy on DVD but if you are interested in the subject matter, it would be a good rental.