Guess Who (film)
Guess Who | |
---|---|
Directed by | Kevin Rodney Sullivan |
Screenplay by | David Ronn Jay Scherick Peter Tolan |
Story by | David Ronn Jay Scherick |
Based on | Guess Who's Coming to Dinner by William Rose |
Produced by | Jenno Topping Erwin Stoff Jason Goldberg |
Starring | Bernie Mac Ashton Kutcher Zoë Saldaña Judith Scott |
Cinematography | Karl Walter Lindenlaub |
Edited by | Paul Seydor |
Music by | John Murphy |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing (United States) 20th Century Fox (International) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 105 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $35 million |
Box office | $103.1 million |
Guess Who is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan. A loose remake of the 1967 film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, the film follows a white man (Ashton Kutcher) meeting the parents (Bernie Mac and Judith Scott) of his black fiancée (Zoë Saldaña).
The majority of the film was filmed in Cranford, New Jersey.[1] The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $103 million.
Plot
[edit]Theresa Jones takes her boyfriend, Simon Green, to her parents' home to meet them on their 25th wedding anniversary, planning to reveal that the couple are engaged. However, Theresa has neglected to mention that Simon is white. Theresa's father, Percy, dislikes Simon almost immediately not only because of his race, but also because he lies to him about being on the NASCAR pit crew for Jeff Gordon, not realizing that Percy is one of Gordon's biggest fans. Marilyn, Percy's wife, however, likes Simon when they first meet. Percy also happens to stumble on Simon jokingly wearing Theresa's lingerie while the couple is playing around in her childhood bedroom. None of this helps endear Simon to Percy.
After catching Theresa and Simon in the bedroom, 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 so he can keep an eye on him even though the pull-out bed hurts his back.
With the help of his personal assistant Reggie, Percy tries to learn as much information about Simon as he can as well as creating the ideal black boyfriend for Theresa instead of revealing her boyfriend is white. Reggie manages to convince Simon to reveal that he lied about being a NASCAR pit crew member 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. Furious 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.
The next morning, Percy and Simon find Marilyn and Theresa at Marilyn's sister's house 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 at Percy and Marilyn's anniversary party.
Cast
[edit]- Bernie Mac as Percy Jones
- Ashton Kutcher as Simon Green, Theresa's boyfriend
- Zoë Saldaña as Theresa Jones, Percy & Marilyn's daughter and Simon's girlfriend
- Judith Scott as Marilyn Jones, Percy's wife
- Hal Williams as Howard Jones, Percy's father
- Kellee Stewart as Keisha Jones, Percy & Marilyn's daughter
- Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs as Joseph Jones
- Sherri Shepherd as Sydney
- Robert Curtis Brown as Dante
- RonReaco Lee as Reggie
- Phil Reeves as Fred
- Nicole Sullivan as Liz Klein
- Jessica Cauffiel as Polly
- Niecy Nash as Naomi
- Kimberly Scott as Kimdra
- Denise Dowse as Lisa
- Richard Lawson as Marcus
- Mike Epps as Cab Driver
- David Krumholtz as Jerry MacNamara, Percy's co-worker
Production
[edit]The film's working title was The Dinner Party. At one point, Harold Ramis was slated to direct.[2]
Reception
[edit]Box office
[edit]Guess Who grossed $68.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $34.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $103.1 million.[3]
The film made $20.7 million in its opening weekend, finishing first. It then made $12.7 million in its second weekend and $7.8 million in its third, finishing in third and fourth, respectively.[4]
Critical response
[edit]On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 41% of 150 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website'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."[5] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 49 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[6] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
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".[7]
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".[8]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Renna Media | Cranford Chosen for HBO Series - The Plot Against America". September 12, 2019.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Guess Who (2005) - Box Office Mojo
- ^ https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2404877825/weekend/?ref_=bo_rl_tab#tabs
- ^ "Guess Who". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
- ^ "Guess Who". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
- ^ Guess Who (2005) - IMDB Critic Reviews
- ^ Sragow, Michael (2005-03-25). "Dream Pairing". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
External links
[edit]- 2005 films
- 2000s buddy comedy films
- 2005 romantic comedy films
- 20th Century Fox films
- Columbia Pictures films
- Regency Enterprises films
- Films about interracial romance
- American buddy comedy films
- Remakes of American films
- American romantic comedy films
- 2000s English-language films
- Films scored by John Murphy (composer)
- Films directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan
- Films set in New Jersey
- Films shot in New Jersey
- Films with screenplays by Peter Tolan
- African-American comedy films
- African-American films
- 3 Arts Entertainment films
- 2000s American films
- English-language romantic comedy films
- English-language buddy comedy films