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.

Yes, there are spoilers, but I have to speak about the subject matter. I watched this with my wife and two daughters. I wish my 20 year old son could have been home to watch this with the family. He and my almost 19 year old daughter had a friend in school who committed suicide due to bullying from her legal guardian, her aunt (father's sister), who was a special education teacher at their school. Her mother had died when she was young, and her father didn't want her around. A straight A student, she was shy at school, but she had her friends in theater and choir, the only place where she could come out of her shell. This needless loss of life was not committed on social media as the attempt was shown here, but the reaction and aftermath of an attempted or actual suicide in a school setting like this has a much more devastating emotional reaction than the one in this movie. This is my reason for only a 6. It just did not show the stark realism, maybe because the actors couldn't pull off that level of realism or because the producers wanted to keep it pg13.

As for bullying and abuse as children: for those that say they have never seen it, like one reviewer stated here, you either were home schooled or are lying. Then, growing up, children are either the victims of bullying, the bully, or the one who stands up for the bully and gets the bullying stopped. The ones that stand by are just as bad as the bullies. Children have mouths. They can at least report bullying. No, they are not snitches. Suicide is the ultimate death. It can be prevented.

This subject, I'll not go deeper into, but between my wife and I, we are qualified in the storyline. This was less traumatic than our childhoods growing up in a very hostile and religious setting. And my two oldest, at least, championed at their school for antibullying. They obviously couldn't prevent it all on their own, but they did their best. My youngest hasn't gotten to that age yet.

So, as you can tell, this is about bullying, self doubt, and the consequences, to the point of attempting to or actually commiting suicide.

Alex Kersting plays the main character "Butter". He is an obese teen with an overprotective and overindulging mom at home and an indifferent dad. He is a not totally unpopular kid at school. He has friends in his group.

Alex is the main reason I only gave this a 6 instead of a 10. He just doesn't have the ability to act the part he's given. He may have personal issues with weight in real life, but I doubt he has ever been the victim of any real bullying. When he is supposed to cry, his attempts are laughable and as fake as his attempts to play that saxophone he's supposed to be so good at. My son and I both play the saxophone. My son was in a jazz band. This was a main part of this movie as well, so I have to review it. Fingers didn't even come close and his embouchure was too far off. If Alex were to be able to play that saxophone that well in real life, he wouldn't be in movies, he would be a professional musician because his character's supposed level of expertise is far better than his acting ability. Also, as he stated, he wanted to stay in good enough shape, so that he didn't get out of breath because playing the saxophone was all that mattered. Another mess. You can't blow that hard and that long and even remotely think of getting out of breath. Totally unconvincing.

The other reason for the 6 is that in the end, the reactions and consequences are a bit underplayed.

I figure it has to stay pg13 and end on a good note, no pun intended. If it had been closer to real, my wife and oldest daughter would have been bawling instead of having dry eyes at the end.

As for the 6 stars. This movie did a decent job in showing bullying, self image, overindulgence, self confidence, and suicide. It shows the newest form of bullying, at that; cyberbullying.

The story, the directing, and much of the acting are spot on. You know who the main bully is. No matter what happens, he will always be a bully for the rest of his life. That's just who he is. Then, there's the victim. He will most always remain the victim. Even when he tries to abandon that position, if there's a bully, he'll always be the victim. Those in school that are bullied and make it aren't victims. They abide their time and ultimately overcome their oppressors in the long run.

Then there's the stand by and enabler groups. They see it and just stand by and do nothing or advance the problem to the breaking point. These were all played fairly well.

I believe this movie could have been every bit of a 10 if only they could have found a real actor to play the main character, one who could convey emotion and realism, one who could draw you into every aspect of his life.

And then there were the less than real emotions and underwhelming consequences at the end. This could have still been pg13 and shown the stark realism of attemped or actual suicide and bullying. It could have shown the gut wrenching emotion and the harsh consequences of both. The children watching that video, no matter how old, how supposedly jaded, no matter how tough, even the bully, would have been freaking out and bawling. There would have been more noise, reaction, something. Come on, they are watching a suicide attempt of someone they know. This isn't a police brutality video, where the people are standing around with their cellphones trying to video the injustice. Those people are just as bad as the cops. They are void of anything moral. If they really cared, they would have saved the person getting murdered by the police. These are supposedly kids that still have moral value.

Butter, you aren't a poor kid in a hospital bed being fed by your mommy who can't let you feed yourself with a plastic fork and knife because of your suicide attempt. You'll more than likely be in a lock down facility or handcuffed to a bariatric bed, due to your size. Maybe even strapped down for a few days, because you wouldn't be receiving food orally. You would be receiving fluids and nutrients through an IV while you were in the coma. You would still be using that as a source of sustenance after you wake up, and since it would be in your arm, you would have to be strapped down due to your suicide attempt so that you don't try to rip out the IV. ALL SUICIDE ATTEMPTS ARE TREATED THE SAME pertaining to an IV. Also, with your size, you could still harm yourself, medical personnel or police or emergency personnel. Then you would be a 5150 until you have finished evaluation and mental treatment.

So much wrong with the ending. But, I digress. It had to fit in a certain time frame, and it had to hold the audience without scaring them away from the true nature of bullying and suicide. That's also why I didn't give it a lower rating for delving into unbelievably happy endings.

Watch this for the story that tries, I say tries, to be honest, the rest of the cast that are somewhat more believable than the main character, and enjoy that it had a better happy ending than what is reality.

Finally a more realistic teen movie. I love the genre, but in this film the themes of suicide, obesity, internal conflicts, lies on the internet are addressed in a way that is closer to reality. I really appreciated that at the end of the film the typical "cute girl" from a teen movie doesn't fall in love with the protagonist. Normally these films would end with her ultimately stopping him from attempting suicide and finding herself in love. Unfortunately, reality is almost never like this and even though he almost died, she still doesn't reciprocate his feelings. Unfortunately, many young people experience internal conflicts and have suicidal thoughts. Films like this can help in some way. Or at least, I'd like it to be that way.