BLACK OR WHITE | FAMILY MOVIE REVIEW INFORMATION FOR PARENTS AND KIDS

"BLACK OR WHITE"
(2014) (Kevin Costner, Octavia Spencer) (PG-13)

QUICK TAKE:: Drama: Following the death of his wife, a lawyer fights to retain custody of his mixed race granddaughter from the girl's other grandmother and her deadbeat, ex-con son.

PLOT:

Elliott Anderson (KEVIN COSTNER) is a successful lawyer whose world is turned upside down when his wife is killed in an auto accident. The two of them had been raising their mixed race granddaughter, Eloise (JILLIAN ESTELL), from birth (where her teenage mother perished) through the current third grade, and Elliott wants to continue that.

But the girl's other grandmother, Rowena Jeffers (OCTAVIA SPENCER), thinks that Elliott isn't raising Eloise with enough black heritage and interaction with the rest of her extended black family. Thus, she is threatening to sue him for custody via her lawyer brother, Jeremiah (ANTHONY MACKIE).

Elliott's law firm partner, Rick Reynolds (BILL BURR), immediately springs into action along with some other lawyers to help him, especially in exposing that the girl's father, Reggie Davis (ANDRE HOLLAND), who she's never met, is an unfit dad and role model, what with his past drug addiction and other criminal convictions. But Elliott isn't squeaky clean, what with his drinking problem that started with his daughter's death years ago and has only gotten worse following his wife's death.

Accordingly, he has Eloise's new math tutor, Duvan Araga (MPHO KOAHO), also serve as his driver. That's something that ends up exposed in the court case where Elliott and his team try to prove that he's the best option for raising Eloise, all while Rowena pushes her brother and son to do whatever it takes to get custody of the girl.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: It's possible some teens might be interested, especially if they're fans of anyone in the cast.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13: On appeal for brief strong language, thematic material involving drug use and drinking, and for a fight.

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