'Black or White' wrestles with race in custody drama.

AuthorMintzer, Jordan
PositionLiving - Movie review

Byline: Jordan Mintzer

'Black or White'

Unstarred Review

A Relativity Media release

Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language, thematic material involving drug use and drinking, and for a fight

Running time: 2 hours, 1 minute

"Black or White'' may be the title, but there are plenty of gray areas tackled in this good ol' fashioned family dramedy from standup comic turned filmmaker Mike Binder ("Reign Over Me,'' "The Upside of Anger'').

Pitting a binge drinking Kevin Costner against a butt-whooping Octavia Spencer in a battle for custody over their beloved granddaughter, this well-performed and occasionally amusing affair has a distinctively '90s feel to it, laying on the sauce rather thick at times, although it still creates a believable story raising questions about parenthood and racial prejudice in modern-day Los Angeles.

A somewhat clumsy opening scene introduces us to California attorney Elliot Anderson (Costner), whose wife has just died in a car accident, leaving the man with little consolation outside a home bar fully stocked with Scotch. But he does have one remaining hope in life: his mixed-race 7-year-old granddaughter, Eloise (newcomer Jillian Estell), who's been living with him ever since the girl's mother died at childbirth and her drug addicted father, Reggie (Andre Holland), landed in jail.

Trying to cope with his granddaddy duties as he slowly drinks himself into oblivion, Elliot manages to keep things afloat for the time being, especially after hiring an overqualified math tutor, Duvan (Mpho Koaho), to serve as right-hand man and provide some necessary comic relief to the household. Yet just when things are picking up, he's paid a visit by Eloise's paternal grandmother, Rowena (Spencer), a loving but iron-fisted matriarch whose boggle-eyed glare is enough to push back an army, and who soon takes it upon herself to demand custody of her granddaughter through the help of hotshot nephew lawyer, Jeremiah (Anthony Mackie).

"Inspired by a true incident'' per the opening credits, the screenplay by Binder paints a broad but credible portrait of a fractured family living on opposite sides of L.A.'s racial barrier...

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