Guess Who (film)

Guess Who

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan
Produced by Jenno Topping
Erwin Stoff
Jason Goldberg
Screenplay by David Ronn
Jay Scherick
Peter Tolan
Story by David Ronn
Jay Scherick
Based on Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967 film)  
by William Rose
Starring Bernie Mac
Ashton Kutcher
Zoë Saldaña
Judith Scott
Music by John Murphy
Cinematography Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Edited by Paul Seydor
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
(United States)
20th Century Fox
(International)
Release dates
  • March 25, 2005 (2005-03-25)
Running time
 105 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $35 million
Box office $101.8 million

Guess Who is a 2005 American comedy film about race relations directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan. It is a loose remake of the 1967 film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, in the form of a romantic comedy. While the 1967 film covered interracial romance of a black man with a white woman, the 2005 film covered the topic of a white man with a black woman. The film stars Bernie Mac, Ashton Kutcher, and Zoe Saldana.

The majority of the film was filmed in Cranford, New Jersey.

Plot

Theresa Jones (Zoe Saldana) takes her boyfriend, Simon Green (Ashton Kutcher) home to meet her parents on the occasion of her parents' 25th wedding anniversary, planning to reveal that they are engaged. However, what Theresa has also left out is that Simon is white. Her father, Percy (Bernie Mac), dislikes Simon almost immediately because of his race. Wishing to impress Percy, Simon lies to him about being a NASCAR pit driver for Jeff Gordon, not realizing that Percy is one of his biggest fans. After catching Theresa and Simon in a compromising position, Percy tries to force Simon into a hotel, but all the hotels in town are booked. Instead, he allows Simon to sleep in his basement on the couch, where Percy also sleeps.

With the help of his personal assistant Reggie (Ronreaco Lee), Percy tries to dig up as much dirt on Simon as he can as well as creating the ideal black boyfriend for Theresa instead of revealing her boyfriend is white. He manages to get Simon to reveal that he lied about being a NASCAR driver and also that he needs a $50,000 loan. Simon discovers Percy's lies just as Reggie reveals that Simon quit his job. Immediately, Percy goes to tell his daughter this new information, however Simon claims he wasn't fired and instead quit. Angry that he didn't tell her the truth, Theresa leaves while Percy's snooping and plagiarism of his vows temporarily strains his relationship with his wife, Marilyn (Judith Scott).

The next morning Percy and Simon find the women to apologize, but while Marilyn and Percy reconcile, Simon and Theresa break up for good and he leaves. On the day of his anniversary, Theresa tells her father that she and Simon were going to get married. After wondering why a man planning to get married would quit his job, Percy realizes that Simon quit his job due to his boss' disapproval of interracial relationships. Percy goes after Simon and brings him back to Theresa where they get back together, then the festivities begin.

Cast

Production

The film's working title was The Dinner Party. At one point, Harold Ramis was slated to direct.[1]

Reception

Box office

According to Box Office Mojo, the film earned $68,915,888 in the U.S. and went on to earn $32,950,142 at the worldwide box office, giving it a total gross of $101,866,030.[2]

Critical reception

Guess Who gathered mixed reviews, earning a 43% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the final consensus stating that "Despite the chemistry of its stars, Guess Who, a loose remake of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, lacks the political relevance of the original."[3]

USA Today said of the film, "A succession of tired race jokes made worse by the bad comedic timing of the bland, under-talented Ashton Kutcher", The Wall Street Journal said, "Guess Who is, impurely and simply, a comic premise borrowed, turned around and dumbed down to the level of sketch or sub-sketch humour" and Rolling Stone said, "Guess what? It's almost bearable".[4]

More positive reviews included The Baltimore Sun, which said, "The movie's sweetness, wit and charm go beyond its can't-we-all-just-get-along premise".

See also

References

  1. ↑ Friend, Tad (19 April 2004). "Comedy First: How Harold Ramis’s movies have stayed funny for twenty-five years". The New Yorker. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  2. ↑ Guess Who (2005) - Box Office Mojo
  3. ↑ Guess Who (2005) - Rotten Tomatoes
  4. ↑ Guess Who (2005) - IMDB Critic Reviews

External links

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