Entertainment

SPINNING INTO BUTTER

SARAH Jessica Parker lets fly with the N-word in the racism drama “Spinning Into Butter,” in which frank talk about racial grievances leads to a shrug.

The movie, which has been on the shelf for four years, is set at a Vermont college where the dean (Parker) has to deal with a campus crisis that erupts when a black student receives threats including a noose hanging outside his window. Mykelti Williamson plays a reporter who, like the dean, came seeking refuge from Chicago — in both cases for reasons related to race.

Lots of racial speechifying, some of it ugly, leads to no conclusion. The material is crying out for a satiric wit or at least a stronger point of view. Instead, it’s a mishmash in which everyone gets to say his piece, but all of it has been said before.

Running time: 85 minutes. Rated R (profanity). At the Sunshine, Houston Street, near First Avenue.