Guess Who: Movie & DVD Review (2005)

(Originally published 2005)

The broad new comedy, “Guess Who,” turns out to be Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher’s best film to date. But let’s not pop the corks just yet.

In spite of the nearly three dozen movies between them, each has yet to make a memorable film worth getting excited about.

For instance, is it a compliment to say that “Guess Who” is better than “Booty Call?” More compelling than “Texas Rangers?” Superior to “B*A*P*S?” Guess not.

A quick glance at each man’s film career finds a sloppy trail of miscalculations and poor decisions. Mac is one of today’s better comedians, but he has yet to capture on film the sly, hot-tempered greatness of his television show, “The Bernie Mac Show.” Networks know what to do with him, but studios don’t. Even last year’s “Mr. 3000” swung short.

Kutcher, on the other hand, is more pin-up personality than actor. He’s a male version of Paris Hilton--obnoxious, hollow, manufactured for the moment. His resume is a laundry list of critical and financial flops, including such mind-erasers as “Dude, Where’s My Car,” “My Boss’s Daughter” and “The Butterfly Effect,” the latter of which found Kutcher playing a character given to embarrassing fits of hallucination.

The good news about “Guess Who” is that it requires no hallucinogens to enjoy it. A slight, satirical remake of 1967’s “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”--itself an earnest social drama that won Katharine Hepburn an Academy Award and proved the end of Spencer Tracy--“Guess Who” isn’t half bad, provided you go into it with reasonable expectations.

The film flips “Dinner” on it side, which sounds messier than it is. Instead of being about a black man meeting his white girlfriend’s family--as was the case with Sidney Poitier’s character in the original--it’s about Kutcher’s clean-cut Simon meeting his black girlfriend’s family over one long, tumultuous weekend.

If that sounds as if the film is also ripping-off “Meet the Parents,” that’s because it is. But while the film is never as outlandish as that movie, “Guess Who” is still affable, an urban comedy steeped in stereotypes that predictably finds its mismatched characters coming to respect each other in spite of their differences.

As banker Percy Jones, Mac is the voice of disapproval here, testing Simon at every turn with his cutting quips and bulging eyes. Percy’s daughter and Simon’s intended, Theresa (Zoe Saldana), is pure milquetoast, but Percy’s wife, Marilyn (Judith Scott), does bring a refreshing air of bemused detachment to the proceedings.

As for Kutcher, his character is essentially a long-suffering doormat, slightly more dynamic than a twig, but the straightman role does work for him. Unlike his previous movies, he doesn’t try too hard here, which proves just right. Sometimes, when the camera loves you and the rest of the cast brings the talent, that’s enough.

Grade: C+