The Help (2011)

Based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett, director Tate Taylor makes an overwrought tear-jerker with some bathroom humor about Southern black maids in the early 1960s. But the movie is well executed, thanks to good performances, especially by Viola Davis.

d: Tate Taylor | imdb.com | trailer | Charlie Rose
Let’s begin. | I need your help. | I got a job. | You is important.

She’s Out of My League (2010)

Jay Baruchel, one of Seth Rogen’s band of brothers in “Knocked Up,” graduates to lead loser in a generic knock-off of a Judd Apatow film. Not even romantic interest Alice Eve can explain why she’s with the dead-end, self-esteem-less Baruchel.

d: Jim Field Smith | imdb.com | trailer | Beauty and the beast