Black/White

And it's still funny and romantic. Bernie Mac, Ashton kutcher and Zoë Zaldaña had a great chemistry in the screen.

In New York, the Afro-American Theresa Jones (Zoë Saldaña) goes to the suburb of New Jersey with her Caucasian boy-friend Simon Green (Ashton Kutcher) for the renewal of the vows of her parents after twenty-five years marriage. Her father, the racist banker Percy Jones (Bernie Mac), does not accept the white Simon and does not give a break to Simon. In the end, love is beautiful, and all the family problems are fixed.

Although having the theme "visiting the family", which is very explored in comedies by Hollywood, the beginning of "Guess Who" is funny, with many hilarious racist situations. I laughed a lot, for example, with the confusion of Percy with the cab driver in the arrival of Simon to his house; or with the stupid dialogs of Simon with Percy, making the situations worse and worse. There are some jokes at the grandfather's dinner table that I did not understand (for example, the joke with the "ho" sister). Bernie Mac is simply perfect in the role of a very racist black man, and Aston Kutcher is very good in the role of an impulsive young guy that does not think before speaking. Indeed his character is too much silly to be a good and disputed professional in business. Unfortunately, in a certain moment the story become boring and corny, certainly for commercial interests in order to have a politically correct conclusion. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Família da Noiva" ("The Family of the Bride")

'Guess Who' is a good reflection of the changes in society since the Sydney Portier version was made many decades ago. Ashton Kutcher is an underrated comedic actor, who despite his good looks, can still be quite goofy and amusing. The movie raises good points about reverse racism, people's continuing prejudices and the pressures society puts on 'mixed-race' couples. I think the director and writers found a happy medium that allowed issues to be raised while at the same time keeping the movie light-hearted, funny and entertaining. If you are looking for something meaningful and entertaining at the same time, with a touch of romance and some eye candy, this is the movie for you!

To take a work of pure genius (Guess Who's Coming To Dinner / Stanley Kramer 1967) and turn it into a Bernie mac, Ashton Kutcher roll reversal. I have nothing against the actors in this film... BUT! The original still stands strong as a cinematic masterpiece. Reviewing the troubled historic times past. Any comedic treatment of this classic work is nothing more than panhandling.

You can rent or buy the original for under $10. Sydney Portier was and is his generation. Don't be fooled, This series of remakes being spit out by the studios are simply because they already have the rights to the films and they will be the only ones making money. But the best question is what will they remake in 20 years from now.

Don't buy any of it!

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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