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Dancing_P [ 6.5 ]
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If you would've told me a year ago that I would enjoy a remake of a stupid, dated racial comedy starring Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac, I probably would've kicked you in the balls. Truth is, the odds are entirely stacked against Guess Who; it's all lined-up to be critically drubbed and relegated to TBS Superstation on Sunday afternoon. It's surprising, then, that the film plays more like a watered-down version of Curb Your Enthusiasm than one of the hundreds of WB sitcoms featuring comically mixed-up interracial families. Simon Green (Kutcher) is a successful young professional who, like every guy, is dreading the upcoming weekend, in which he will meet his soon-to-be father-in-law (Bernie Mac). What Simon doesn't know, however, is that his girflriend has not told her father he is white, because she feels it doesn't matter. And it does. First things first: am I ever glad this movie doesn't involve Kutcher-hitting-his-head-on-things gags. It's not exactly Lubitsch but scenes like Simon being pressured into telling 'black jokes' at the dinner table manage to be both funny and smart. The film has more to say about race relations in America than most 'serious' movies do. It's rather impressive to see a conventional romantic comedy that avoids taking the easy way out all the time. The actors are mostly good, although Kutcher's still not exactly Marlon Brando (he does trump Marlon Wayans, though, if that's any consolation) and Bernie Mac's main task is still to bug his eyes out. It's a surprisingly good film but not necessarily an important or particularly memorable one; for all of its insights and avoidance of obvious clichés, it's still the kind of movie that ends with a big impassioned speech and a collective dance scene.
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chapter11 [ 7.5 ]
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A genuinely good film, of startling quality and comedic replay value, reduced to mere cliche by critics everywhere who fail to see, first of all, past their objections to Ashton Kutcher (i don't like him either, but this is a good movie), and, secondly, just how perceptive and fresh this film is. It's uncreative in the sense that it comes on the heels of a wave of popularity greeted the titanically popular "Meet the Parents" and that it follows the same vague, bare-bricks formula; but there's a fresh racial perspective to be found here, a clever subversion of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" that easily one-ups the outdated original, and a really good movie to be found here, at least eons better than all the other "Meet the Parents" followers, tons better than "Monster-in-Law" and "Meet the Fockers".
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| Weighted Rating | : 6.0 |
| No. Ratings | : 6 | |
| No. Reviews | : 3 | |
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