Following her Academy Award win for the 2011 film "The Help," Octavia Spencer's movies have been considerably more low key, as she's focused more on her television roles, like playing Regina in the popular sitcom "Mom" - now, in a new film regarding race issues co-starring Oscar-winning director and actor Kevin Costner, reviews haven't been as kind.
Up to her Oscar win back in 2012, Octavia Spencer's movies hadn't been particularly noted by critics or audiences, as the Alabama native had been mostly considered a character actress in smaller roles in films like "The Soloist" and even the 1999 Charlie Kaufman movie "Being John Malkovich" - of course, all that has changed since her breakthrough role as the pie-baking maid Minny in "The Help."
While The New York Times gave the latest of Octavia Spencer's movies a fairly decent review, mostly praising her performance along with that of co-star Costner, saying of the actress that she imbued her character Rowena with "a fierce severity," the new movie has gotten mostly panned by critics in general, as the film has been described as living down to its title.
While Costner has been seen promoting the movie and speaking out about Chris Kyle as of late, the turn this has taken for Octavia Spencer's movies has been swifter, as the star of "Paradise" takes a more down-to-Earth approach.
The Boston Herald had nothing but praise for Spencer's performance in "Black and White," and the same goes for Costner's turn as the alcoholic grandfather of a young biracial child.
The film's premise is a story about the custody battle between both grandparents of the little girl (played by Jillian Estell), one of them white and the other black, after Costner denies Spencer's character the possibility of having her granddaughter stay over with her for a while.
While many reviewers state that this, like over Octavia Spencer movies, is watchable due to the actress' talent, website Rotten Tomatoes lists critics support for the film at 34 percent "rotten."
