This is like one of those afternoon made for TV "life affirming" dramas. Full of sugar, whimsy and wholesomeness but totally lacking in truth and bite. Ugh! The performances are almost uniformly two dimensional - even Allison Janney opted for cartoon like characterisation. The period detail is sometimes accurate but occasionally glaringly inaccurate. For example no girl in the early 60s would have worn her hair in Emma Stone's hopelessly anachronistic style. I blame Tate Taylor who was credited with the screenplay and direction. Apparently Taylor was born in Jackson and is a close friend of Kathryn Stockett. Can this really be how Ms Stockett wished her novel to be brought to the screen? But there again I haven't read the novel. Could it be full of the same yukky apple pie philosophy?