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Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac worked together for Guess Who.
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Guess Who (M, 105mins) Directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan**
Percy Jones (Bernie Mac) is a concerned man.
Not only has he reluctantly agreed to renew his vows for his silver wedding anniversary, but his oldest daughter Theresa (Zoe Saldana) is taking home her newest boyfriend. Sure, he’s a stockbroker and his credit report “is a nice thing,” but something about him just doesn’t suit the African American loan officer.
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Guess Who is now available to stream on Disney+ and Prime Video.
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From their daughter’s descriptions, Percy and wife Marilyn (Judith Scott) expect Denzel Washington to walk through their door, but Simon Green (Ashton Kutcher) is actually whiter than white and doesn’t exactly come up with the truth.
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The original Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner won two Academy Awards
Despite the title, Guess Who is not a film adaptation of the popular board game, but rather a contemporary update of the Oscar-winning drama Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? This version has cleverly reversed the races of the characters and plays it for fun, but with only moderate success.
While the original Dinner now cracks the edges with its overrated score, dodgy back-projections and outdated screenplay (forget their race, was no one worried about the couple’s 14-year age difference, or their rush to want to get married?), his writing and acting powers (including great performances by Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, and Sidney Poitier) still shine, leaving this pale 2005 impersonation in the shade.
Director Sullivan (How Stella Got Her Groove Back) tries his best, but he’s stuck in a script that relies too much on physical humor and is smothered in a sickly layer of sentimentality.
What could have been a new spin on an old classic turns out to be a blatant rip-off of Meet the Parents.
Guess Who is now available to stream on Disney+ and Prime Video.