IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
Los Angeles Times (J. Chang) review
RogerEbert.com (B. Tallerico) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review
Get Out [2017] (written and directed by Jordon Peele) is one twisted/funny horror-comedy centered on race -- call it a Guess Who's Coming For Dinner [1967] "of a different kind" ;-).
Nice (black) guy Chris Washington (played by Daniel Kaluuya), college student, arts / photography major, gets invited by his laid-back / liberal (white) girlfriend Rose (played by Allison Williams) to meet her parents Missy and Dean (played wonderfully by Catherine Keener and Bradley Whitford), one random late fall or early spring weekend at their quite modern "country living" far-outlying suburban estate some hours away (Readers here could think of far-outlying suburban Dallas or Atlanta, Chicagoans could think of Barrington).
Chris not altogether excited asks Rose, "Have you told your parents about me?" More to the point, he asks her, "Have you told them that I am black?" Rose responds, "Yes" to the first question and "No," (continuing with a slightly embarrassed smile), "I have not" to the second. Chris sighs slightly / rolls his eyes. Rose assures him: "Oh come on, it'll be okay! My dad's so laid-back liberal, he'd vote for Obama a third time if he could." Chris, who's been dating (and film certainly implies has been sleeping with) Rose for those last four months, suggests that "it may be a little too early" -- Apparently, it _never occurred to him_ that at some point he'd be asked by his girlfriend (again, one who he had been happily sleeping with ...) to meet her parents... -- but he realizes, now, that he really "kinda has to go" as to not do so would require him admitting that he was _never_ "particularly serious" when he was dating (and sleeping with...) Rose.
Chris' best friend Rod Williams (played by LilRel Howery) who hasn't made it to college (but works for the TSA) senses that something's wrong. "She's just asking me to meet her parents. They're supposed to be liberal. She tells me that her dad would vote for Obama a third time if he could," Chris tries to assure his (perhaps long) disapproving BFF. But Rod (again, amusingly "working for the TSA") senses something wrong (when pretty much nobody else would).
Well Chris and Rose set-off / and after a random mishap (they hit a deer) on their way, arrive at her parents' large, and again quite modern "country living" estate out somewhere at the far-outskirts of some random American metropolitan area. And yes, Rose's parents, Dean and Missy are "kinda cool." He's some kind of a neurosurgeon, she a psychiatrist, specializing in treating people with behavioral issues through "suggestion" under _hypnosis_.
Okay, the last part, about hypnosis, is immediately _mildly creepy_. Indeed, it comes up fairly early because the _one thing_ that Rose's parents find immediately somewhat "disappointing" about Rose's "catch" (Chris) is that he _smokes_. No matter, Dean tells Chris that Missy could cure him of that, right then and there, through _hypnosis_ ("Heck she did that for me. One time under hypnosis, and I can't pick-up a cigarette now without feeling immediately physically ill."). Yea ... thanks, but ...
Now the _odd thing_ that Chris (and Viewers) notice about Dean and Missy's estate is that they have two domestic workers, Walter and Georgina (played by Marcus Henderson and Betty Gabriel), he a groundskeeper, she a maid, both "nice," but don't really talk much, and both ... are black. And early on, Dean notices that Chris appears to have noticed this as well, and assures him: "Look I know it may seem kinda wierd that we live out here in this nice estate out in the middle of nowhere, and _both_ of our domestic workers _happen to be black_ but it's honestly _just a coincidence_. Look, Missy and I are so liberal that we'd vote for Obama a third time if we could..." (Yes, Dear Readers, that line appeared in the film three times ;-).
Assurances aside, yes, it did seem kinda creepy that the two domestic workers were both black, but certainly _even creepier_ that they _didn't really say much_ ... ever.
What's going on? Well that's the rest of the film ... I do think that I've set things up quite nicely here ... and it all makes for a quite interesting / often quite funny _race_ themed horror / comedy. And Dear Readers: BE CAREFUL of what you're getting into when you _decide_ (or just _slide_) into a "casual relationship" ...
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