Guess Who (film)

Guess Who is a 2005 American comedy film about race relations directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan. It is a loose remake of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, a film about a black man marrying a white woman. This film instead focuses on a black woman marrying a white man. The film stars Bernie Mac, Ashton Kutcher, and Zoë Saldaña.

Guess Who
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKevin Rodney Sullivan
Produced byJenno Topping
Erwin Stoff
Jason Goldberg
Screenplay byDavid Ronn
Jay Scherick
Peter Tolan
Story byDavid Ronn
Jay Scherick
Based onGuess Who's Coming to Dinner
by William Rose
StarringBernie Mac
Ashton Kutcher
Zoë Saldaña
Judith Scott
Music byJohn Murphy
CinematographyKarl Walter Lindenlaub
Edited byPaul Seydor
Production
company
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing (United States)
20th Century Fox (international)
Release date
  • March 25, 2005 (2005-03-25)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$35 million
Box office$103.1 million

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

Plot

Theresa Jones (Zoë Saldaña) takes her boyfriend, Simon Green (Ashton Kutcher), to her home to meet her parents on the occasion of her parents' 25th wedding anniversary, planning to reveal that they are engaged. However, Theresa has neglected to mention that Simon is white. Theresa's father, Percy (Bernie Mac), dislikes Simon almost immediately because of his race. Wishing to impress Percy, Simon lies to him about being on the NASCAR pit crew for Jeff Gordon, not realizing that Percy is one of Gordon's 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, Percy 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 learn as much information 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 convince 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 Theresa this new information; however, Simon claims he was not fired and instead quit. Angry that he did not tell her the truth, Theresa leaves while Percy's spying and plagiarism of his vows temporarily strains his relationship with his wife, Marilyn (Judith Scott).

The next morning, Percy and Simon find Marilyn and Theresa to apologize. While Marilyn and Percy reconcile, Simon and Theresa break up and he leaves. On the day of his anniversary, Theresa tells her father that she and Simon were intending to marry. After wondering why a man intending to get married would quit his job, Percy realizes that Simon quit his job due to his boss' disapproval of interracial relationships. Percy pursues Simon and brings him back to Theresa, and they reconcile.

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 domestically and another $32,950,142 internationally, giving it a total gross of $101,866,030 worldwide.[2]

Critical reception

Guess Who received mixed reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 42%, based on 151 reviews, with an average rating of 5.41/10. The site's consensus reads: "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".[5]

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 Archived 2008-07-25 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Guess Who (2005) - IMDB Critic Reviews
  5. Sragow, Michael (2005-03-25). "Dream Pairing". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
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