The makers of “Guess Who” might not have sought this reaction, but this light, likable comedy that flips the script on 1967’s “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” is more interesting – and sweet – than it is outright funny.
On the very weekend Percy and Marilyn Jones intend to renew their wedding vows, oldest daughter Theresa (Zo Saldaa) plans to introduce them to boyfriend Simon Green.
Simon (Ashton Kutcher) has a lot going for him. He is an up-and-coming investment banker, although as the movie opens, he has just quit. He’s crazy about Theresa, an aspiring photographer.
A loan officer at a New Jersey bank, Percy (Bernie Mac) has already sussed out some of this information. What he didn’t learn is that Simon is white.
If you’ve seen the film’s trailer, you already know that goofy confusion ensues when Theresa and Simon arrive at the upper-middle-class Jones digs and Percy mistakes Simon for a cabbie.
Were this bit about mistaken identity the only joke, “Guess Who” would be a one-trick pony. But director Kevin Rodney Sullivan (“Barbershop 2”) and the screenwriters trot out a stable of gags and insights. Some of them are about race, the number of pop tunes about the intermingling of black and white one of the funnier ones. They also touch on love, life-long commitment, and, more subtly, class.
That said, “Guess Who” reminds us that even today, any movie about black-and-white interracial relationships is not so much about the lovers as it is about the power plays between black and white men. For the comedy to work well, there must be as much chemistry between the two men as between the couple. (Though Saldaa and Kutcher do a relaxed job of enjoying each other.)
Mac and Kutcher make an endearing pair. Theirs is an alpha-beta dog dance. Percy sniffs and growls. Simon rolls over and wags his tail.
When Simon lies first about being in the pit in NASCAR – and his employment status – he makes it easy for Percy to disapprove of him without owning up to any bias. But everyone knows, onscreen and off, that Percy is in denial.
Of course, there is no way Simon can stand up physically to Percy Jones. Yet as a son of a single mother whose father left them, Simon isn’t without his own bite. Don’t be surprised if the pup teaches the old dog some new tricks about love.
As star of his own television show, Mac’s deft comedy comes from his ability to wield his intimidating physical presence for laughs. More than a few times Simon is punk’d by Mac’s stern daddy figure. A scene at the Jones dinner table has Percy plying his power effortlessly, if a bit cruelly.
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Still, who knew Bernie Mac would be this generation’s Spencer Tracy? More than Tracy’s portrayal of the dad in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” Mac reminds us of another Tracy role, the man in “Father of the Bride” who isn’t quite ready to let go of his little girl.
Give Judith Scott, who plays Marilyn, credit for adding subtler touches to this comedy. She’s not just the grounding wire for Percy, she is the ballast that keeps the Kutcher-Mac shenanigans from spinning into slapstick. And scenes between Theresa and sister Keisha (Kellee Stewart) offer sweet sibling banter.
“Guess Who” is a comedy about race that doesn’t want to be hemmed in by the subject. The laughter also comes from a protective father coming to terms with the romantic choice of his daughter.
If it falls betwixt and between hilarious and meaningful, consider that a testament to where we are as a culture on this topic: able to laugh at the jokes and still vulnerable to our fears.
“Guess Who”
**
PG-13 for sex-related humor|1 hour, 45 minutes|COMEDY|Directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan; written by David Ronn and Jay Scherick and Peter Tolan; photography by Karl Walter Lindenlaub; starring Bernie Mac, Ashton Kutcher, Zo Saldana, Judith Scott |Opens today at area theaters
