Guess Who

Guess who, loosely based on the 1967 movie, Guess Who’s Coming to dinner, provides a pleasant diversion for a mid-morning romp. While this movie, with screenplay by David Ronn, is not as ambitious as the original, written by William (The Ladykillers, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World) Rose, it has it’s moments. Unfortunately, the moments in this modern day version are few and far in between. Matter of fact this version more closely resembles, 2000’s Meet The Parents, only done in black face.

For those of you who have seen the trailers, you know just about everything there is to know. There are no surprises here. In fact, I found my mind occasionally wandering, like in the scene where the family goes to a restaurant for dinner. This scene, which could have easily been omitted, was so uninteresting, I found myself staring at Kellee Stewart’s (She plays Keisha, the sister) chest, confused as to why the director, editor or cinematographer didn’t seem to notice that she had this giant pimple threatening to pop any minute - What ever happened to covering it up with make-up? Granted, this may be a trivial complaint, but that is precisely the point - A movie that gives you the time to not only notice, but obsess on such things is not doing the job it’s supposed to do - Capture your attention. Don’t get me wrong, It was a pleasant enough experience, but I was disappointed that so much talent (Bernie Mac, Ashton Kutcher, Zoe Saldana, Judith Scott) wasn’t better utilized.

The premise, for those of you who may not know, is a seemingly successful Black artist, (Touched on much too briefly) Theresa Jones returns home to Cranston, New Jersey for the weekend. Her parents have decided to renew their vows on their 25th wedding anniversary. Theresa brings along her boyfriend, Simon Green (Ashton Kutcher), who unbeknownst to Theresa, recently quit his lucrative job. The reasons are explained later on in the movie, but never explained is what he actually does for a living. Is he a Wall Street whiz kid, a financial impresario - What?

Needless to say, Theresa, for whatever reasons, has not told her parents that her boyfriend is white, and so begins a series of gags, misunderstandings and high-jinx to justify this almost 2 hour journey to nowhere.

Bernie Mac turns in his usual credible performance, but with very little meat to sink his teeth into, you will forget it the minute the credits begin to roll. Ashton Kutcher at times is very good, but when he’s bad, such as when he resorts to his usual slapstick, he is horrid. His performance is too often over the top to be funny or even believable. When he is sharing a scene with the gorgeous Zoe Saldana he is at his best. Zoe Saldana is pleasant to watch, and despite major flaws in the storyline, she and Ashton actually have great chemistry. So too does Bernie Mac and Judith Scott as Theresa’s parents.

The contrast of the two relationships was one thing the director did do right, showing young love at it’s newest, and more seasoned love at it’s deepest. I just wish all involved had better material with which to work, or at least better direction. The direction by Kevin Rodney Sullivan (How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Barbershop 2, Conviction) too often seems meandering and aimless. He misses many opportunities to exploit situations that would have been funnier than the ones he chose.

A surprise here, is the comical turn by Hal Williams (Lester on the 1985 television hit 227) who appears as Percy’s father in a dinner scene that is probably the best scene in the movie. I would like to go into more depth about his scene, but I don’t want to spoil it for those who may still want to see this movie after my less than stellar review. All in all, this movie won’t do much to stimulate any meaningful dialogue regarding interracial marriage, or even race relations, but unlike some recent cinematic dung, such as 2004’s ill-conceived ’’White Chicks’’, it won’t set them back 50 years either.

Rent this for the family if you must. There are a few profanities, but nothing overly offensive. However, for what it’s worth, I believe you would be better off waiting for it to pop up on cable, and watching it for free, which judging by the lack of attendees at the movie theater where I saw it several months ago, will be sooner than you think.

Cast

Bernie Mac - Percy Jones

Hal Williams   - Grandpa