Black/White

"Many of the critics of this movie need to chill out. "Guess Who?" is meant to be a light-hearted look at what happens with interracial dating in the modern world;it is not meant to be taken so seriously. Also, the use of changing the situation around and making the woman African-American gives the audience a different point of view and lets them see it a totally different way. Remakes are not meant to be exactly how the first movie was...because if it was what exactly would the point be? "Guess Who?" is a refreshing look at interracial dating today by showing how some things have changed...and some things have never change. In my opinion this movie was great--I mean, it's no "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" but it isn't supposed to be. Take "Guess Who?" for what it is, and when watching it...try not to think too hard. " ___________________________________________

I have rented the movie "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and thought it was boring. I think the "critics" of this movie is just jealous of Ashton....LOL

Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac are a wonderful comedic team

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

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

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")

Percy Jones (Bernie Mac) is trying to protect his daughter Theresa (Zoe Saldana) from ending up with the wrong guy, and though he does a thorough background check on her new boyfriend Simon (Ashton Kutcher), there's only one thing his research didn't tell him. He's white and he wants to marry his daughter.

The "meeting the parents" premise has been done to death recently with Monster-in Law and Meet the Fockers being the most recent films. However, what the film lacks in originality, it makes it up with laughs. There were a lot of funny moments and the movie hardly ever got boring. However, most of the funny bits were used in the trailer and this makes the jokes a little less effective since they are already expected. Also, the repeat value of the movie is very low. It's worth watching once but that's pretty much it. I don't think that's a bad thing since most light comedies are like that.

I think the film works well because of the two leads. Both Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher give funny performances and they have nice chemistry together. Their scenes were the best and they never felt forced. Zoe Saldana also gives a good performance and she has come a long way from appearing in Crossroads. Most of the supporting actors are also funny including Judith Scott, who plays Bernie Mac's wife. Mike Epps also makes a cameo though it wasn't that good.

Kevin Rodney Sullivan directs and he only does an okay job. The first half of the film is pretty funny and the racial issues are handled lightly. During the second half, the film becomes all serious and it's kind of awkward. The director ditches the laughs for awhile and he approaches the issue in a mature manner. It kind of works but some of the serious scenes felt fake. It seemed like the actors were about to burst out laughing at any second and the film also got kind of dull. The ending was surprisingly strong though. The changes of tone in the film worked out okay but they weren't as effective as they could have been. In the end, Guess Who is worth a rental, nothing more though. Rating 7/10