Themes: Interracial/Cross-Cultural Romance, Fathers and Daughters, Culture Clash
Main Cast: Bernie Mac, Ashton Kutcher, Zoe Saldana, Judith Scott, Hal Williams
Release Year: 2005
Country: US
Run Time: 103 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
A man gets a very big surprise when he meets his prospective son-in-law in this comedy. Percy Jones (Bernie Mac) is the understandably proud father of Theresa (Zoe Saldana), a beautiful and intelligent young woman living in New York City. When Percy learns that his daughter is dating someone and things are getting serious, he decides to do some research, and learns that her beau is a solid businessman. Percy arranges to meet the young man, but is a bit taken aback when he comes face to face with Simon Green (Ashton Kutcher) -- Percy and his wife are African-American, and Simon is very, but very Caucasian. When it becomes clear that Simon and Theresa's relationship is likely altar-bound, Percy finds himself suddenly full of misgivings about the young man, especially since Simon tends to get rather clumsy when he's nervous. Guess Who was loosely adapted from the 1967 hit Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, though the race of the prospective father and son have been swapped, and the original film's comic undercurrent has been pushed to the forefront. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
At the time Guess Who hit theaters, studios were spitting out ill-conceived remakes at a clip of one per month. Kevin Rodney Sullivan's film bucks that trend in a refreshing way: it revisits only the basic structure of its source material, and there's an actual ongoing relevance to the hot-button issues explored in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Flip-flop the races, sprinkle in believable characters and scenarios, and -- voilà -- a surprise hit (70 million dollars domestic) for two actors with checkered film resumés. The key to Guess Who is that it takes pains to construct a real family at its center, one that's uneasily transformed by this outsider (Ashton Kutcher, whose choppy white-guy haircut is the only thing in the movie that can truly be called "bad"). Sure, Bernie Mac's Percy Jones resembles the grumbling patriarch from the actor's eponymous sitcom, but his relationships with his wife and daughter (the superlative Judith Scott and Zoe Saldana) round him into someone far removed from the sitcom realm. Sullivan and his screenwriters consistently win points by going small and warm, rather than large and mean. Unlike the other prevailing domestic comedies of the day (Meet the Fockers comes to mind), Guess Who rarely allows its set pieces to cross over into slapstick ridiculousness. Unfortunately, one notable exception -- when Mac catches Kutcher trying on lingerie, a bit staged just to throw yuks into the trailer -- may damage the film's chances of being seen by an intelligent audience. A much better and more typical indication of its IQ is the uncomfortable scene in which Simon (Kutcher) gets goaded into reciting racist jokes at the dinner table. Unusually perceptive for a populist comedy, this sequence underscores the fine lines between humor and insult, intimacy and estrangement, and prejudice and understanding. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Kellee Stewart - Keisha Jones; Robert Curtis-Brown - Dante; RonReaco Lee - Reggie; Niecy Nash
Credit
Gary Kosko - Art Director, J.C. Roberts - Associate Producer, Victoria Thomas - Casting, Judy Ruskin-Howell - Costume Designer, Jono Oliver - First Assistant Director, Kevin Rodney Sullivan - Director, Paul Seydor - Editor, Joseph M. Caracciolo, Jr. - Executive Producer, Betty Thomas - Executive Producer, Steve Greener - Executive Producer, John Murphy - Composer (Music Score), Paul Peters - Production Designer, Karl Walter Lindenlaub - Cinematographer, Erwin Stoff - Producer, Jenno Topping - Producer, Jason Goldberg - Producer, Ashton Kutcher - Producer, Kevin O'Connell - Sound/Sound Designer, Greg P. Russell - Sound/Sound Designer, Eddie Watkins - Stunts Coordinator, Jay Scherick - Screen Story, David Ronn - Screen Story, Peter Tolan - Screenwriter, Jay Scherick - Screenwriter, David Ronn - Screenwriter, Timothy Record - Production Assistant, Steven D. Williams - Supervising Sound Editor, Kathryn Peters-Cardinale - Set Decorator
When Theresa (Zoë Saldaña) brings her new fiancé, Simon (Ashton Kutcher), home, everyone is surprised to see that he's white. Her father Percy (Bernie Mac) immediately dislikes him and tries to find something that's wrong with him. This is when the troubles begin. Sooner or later, Percy will have to realize that Simon is white and has to like and accept him for who he is.
Cast
Main characters
Ashton Kutcher as Simon Green, the film's main protagonist. His girlfriend, Theresa, brings him home to meet her family. Her dad, Percy, dislikes Simon upon meeting him. Simon tries too hard to impress Percy, so keeps telling lies in order to impress her father. However, he was from his job prior to their visit and didn't tell Theresa.
Bernie Mac as Percy Jones, the film's second protagonist. He is the father of Theresa and Keisha. He and his wife, Marilyn are about to celebrate their 25th anniversary. He immediately dislikes Simon upon meeting him. He is desperate to dig up as much dirt on Simon as he can. So with the help of his personal assistant, Reggie, he finds out some of Simon's past history. This slightly damages the marriage between him and Marilyn. He is an obsessed Jeff Gordon fan.
Zoë Saldaña as Theresa Jones, Simon's girlfriend, Percy and Marilyn's daughter and Keisha's sister. She is excited when she brings Simon home. However, she doesn't like how her dad treats him.
Judith Scott as Marilyn Jones, Percy's wife and Theresa and Keisha's mom. She is a friendly, loving woman who likes Simon despite his race. Just like Theresa, she doesn't agree with Percy's attitude towards Simon. She wants to Tango at her 25th anniversary party.
According to Box Office Mojo, the film earned $68,915,888 in the US and went on to earn $32,950,142 at the world wide box office, giving it a total gross of $101,866,030.[1]
Reception
Although very successful at the box office, it seems to have gathered negative reviews earning only a 43% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[2]
