Guess Who (2005)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Kevin Rodney Sullivan

Writers (WGA):

William Rose (motion picture "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner")
David Ronn (story) ...

Release Date:

25 March 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

His house. His rules. Some in-laws were made to be broken.

Plot:

A sarcastic father (Mac) has plenty to say about his daughter wanting to marry a white boy (Kutcher).

Plot Keywords:

Engagement | Argument | Mother Daughter Relationship | Dating | Hugging

Awards:

16 nominations

Cast

Bernie Mac	...	Percy Jones
Ashton Kutcher	...	Simon Green
Zoe Saldana	...	Theresa Jones (as Zoë Saldaña)
Judith Scott	...	Marilyn Jones
Hal Williams	...	Howard Jones
Kellee Stewart	...	Keisha Jones
Robert Curtis Brown	...	Dante
RonReaco Lee	...	Reggie (as Ronreaco Lee)
Paula Newsome	...	Darlene
Phil Reeves	...	Fred
Sherri Shepherd	...	Sydney
Nicole Sullivan	...	Liz Klein
Jessica Cauffiel	...	Polly
JoNell Kennedy	...	Winnie (as Jonell Kennedy)
Niecy Nash	...	Naomi

Also Known As:

The Dinner Party (USA) (original script title)
Untitled Bernie Mac/Ashton Kutcher Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sex-related humor.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Germany:o.Al. | Argentina:13 | Taiwan:PG-12 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | Finland:K-3 | Iceland:L | Malaysia:U | USA:PG-13 (certificate #40123) | South Korea:12 | Australia:M | Brazil:10 | Ireland:12A | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | UK:12A | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva)

Filming Locations:

Cartagena Street, Long Beach, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Ashton Kutcher suggested that his character be Jewish, to add another dimension to his conflict with the Christian Percy Jones. The idea was scrapped because the filmmakers wanted to focus on the issue of interracial romance rather than also looking into the interfaith issue.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: After Simon and Theresa escape from the basement and are standing on the top of the fort, the moon is backwards (flipped shot).

Quotes:

Simon Green: Why can't black people listen to country music?
Keisha Jones: Why?
Simon Green: Because every time they say "hoe-down" they think their sister got shot!

Movie Connections:

References Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

Soundtrack:

Express Yourself (Mocean Worker Remix)

Bernie Mac still makes this movie a pleasant one.

Of course this movie is mostly being blasted because it was released so shortly after the success of "Meet the Parents" and "Meet the Fockers", which uses the exact some concept. Only difference with this movie is that it's about an interracial couple. But also when you look beyond this and ignore the fact that this movie is basically the interracial version of "Meet the Parents", it just isn't a great movie because for a comedy its surely lacking. Basically Bernie Mac was the only reason that I still found this movie to be an enjoyable one to watch.

Perhaps biggest problem is that the movie is too predictable. No not just with its story, I mean basically everyone already knows in advance how this movie is going to end but also comical wise the movie is too predictable. They surely didn't came up with a whole lot of original moments and because everything happens in such a predictable manner, the comedy also just doesn't always work out.

The movie could had been a better one, had it handled its subject of an interracial relationship better. That way the movie could perhaps had send out a message but it doesn't really does so now. The movie doesn't take away any stereotypes, instead it only sort of confirms them and it happily does so, in order to provide the movie with racial-typed humor. Somehow I have the feeling that it perhaps could had worked out better had the guy been black and the girl white and so her parents, who they are visiting, as was the case in the original movie this movie got based on; "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", staring Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn, which was also a drama rather than a comedy. Even though I haven't seen that movie yet I still am sure of it that that movie its theme worked out better, perhaps also because it was a '60's movie when interracial relationships obviously were still a bigger issue. Seriously, when I take a black girl or Asian or whatever home one of these my parents surely won't make a big issue out of it at all. So isn't this a movie a bit too outdated already with its theme and only relevant had it been made about 40 years ago? That is if the film-makers intentions were to take away the stereotypes and reluctances and intolerability of people towards interracial relationship but I have the idea that the film-makers simply dropped this idea and intentions and went for a simple full-blood comedy instead.

I haven't seen Bernie Mac in an awful lot of movies, also since he started out pretty late white his acting career but so far I have always liked him in his comical roles. He plays it serious and sarcastic rather than over-the-top funny which makes him such a great and hilarious actor in my opinion. It's also mostly his movie in my opinion and Asthon Kutcher gets pushed more to the background by him, even though Ashton Kutcher surely ain't a bad actor either, no matter what other people always say about him.

A comedy you can surely do without but when you decide to watch it you'll still be most likely lightly entertained by it.

6/10