Guess Who (2005)

A young woman, Theresa, brings her boyfriend, Simon, home to meet her parents and surprise them with the news of their engagement. Another surprise: Simon is white.

Director:

Kevin Rodney Sullivan

Writers:

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

Stars:

Ashton Kutcher, Bernie Mac, Zoe Saldana

16 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Percy and Marilyn are renewing their vows for their anniversary, and their daughter Theresa brings her boyfriend Simon for them to meet. Unbeknownst to her parents, the kids plan to announce their engagement during the weekend. The Jones family is Black; Theresa neglects to tell them Simon is White. Race complicates Percy's general mistrust of any boyfriend, so he instigates an investigation of Simon, discovering he's recently lost his job and hasn't told Theresa. Mistrust rears its ugly head, and in the process of Theresa and Simon's argument, Marilyn and Percy fall out. What can the men do to cross the divide between each other and between men and women? Will anyone be exchanging vows?

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Plot Keywords:

engagement | argument | family relationships | embarrassment | white male black female relationship | 

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Taglines:

Some in-laws were made to be broken.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sex-related humor

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 March 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Dinner Party

Filming Locations:

500 N Almansor St, Alhambra, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$20,671,446, 27 March 2005, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$68,915,888

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$103,075,949

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Regency Enterprises, 3 Arts Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Roles are reversed in this unofficial remake : an African-American woman introduces her parents to her white boyfriend here, while it was a white woman introducing her African-American boyfriend in the original movie.

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Goofs

When Percy and Simon are en route to the hotel, Percy turns on his radio and the clock reads 7:16. After learning that there were no rooms available at the hotel, Percy and Simon return to the vehicle, once again turning on the radio where the clock still reads 7:16.

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Quotes

Simon Green: You know, if Theresa had told me you guys were black it really could have saved us an awkward situation.

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Crazy Credits

During the credits we get to see the home video of the wedding, and hear the main characters comment on the events.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Worst Comedy Movie Remakes (2016)

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Soundtracks

Walk on the Wild Side
(1972)
(Onscreen as "Walk on the Wildside")
Written and Performed by Lou Reed
Courtesy of RCA Records
By Arrangement with Sony BMG Music Licensing

User Reviews

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

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