Guess Who (film)

Guess Who is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan, and starring Bernie Mac, Ashton Kutcher, Zoë Saldaña and Judith Scott. The majority of the film was shot in Cranford, New Jersey.

A remake of the 1967 film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, the film follows a white man meeting the parents of his black fiancée.

Guess Who was released in the United States on March 25, 2005 by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $103 million against a $35 million budget.

Plot

Theresa Jones takes her boyfriend Simon Green to her parents' home to meet them on their 25th wedding anniversary. There she also plans 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. Percy's wife Marilyn however does likes Simon when they first meet. Percy also happens to stumble on Simon jokingly wearing Theresa's lingerie while they are 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. However, all the hotels in town are booked. Instead, Percy allows Simon to sleep in his basement on the sofa-bed, where Percy also sleeps so he can keep an eye on him, even though the mattress hurts his back.

With the help of his personal assistant Reggie, Percy tries to learn as much information about Simon as he can. He also describes her partner as 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 insists he was not fired and instead quit. Furious that he did not tell her the truth, Theresa leaves. Percy's spying and plagiarism of his vows temporarily strains his relationship with 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 the 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. He pursues Simon and brings him back to Theresa, where they reconcile at the anniversary party.

Cast

Production

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

Reception

Box office

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 million, against a production budget of $35 million.

Critical response

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".

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".