Susan Granger’s review of “Guess Who” (Columbia Pictures)
You can read a classic novel or the comic book version, right? In 1967, Stanley Kramer’s “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” challenged racism in America with a stellar cast that included Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn and Sidney Poitier. The twist is that this new, dumbed-down version stars Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher – and it looks more like “Meet the Parents.” Percy Jones (Bernie Mac), a bank loan officer, is very protective of his beloved daughter (Zoe Saldana), so when she falls in love with Simon Green (Ashton Kutcher), he immediately runs a credit check on the young stockbroker. When Simon passes, Percy is delighted – until this Manhattan yuppie arrives on his Cranford, New Jersey, doorstep as he and his wife celebrate their 25th anniversary. Appalled, Percy questions Simon about his education, family and favorite sports and goads him into telling racist jokes during a family dinner. Using every ploy, Percy tries to prevent his daughter from making what he considers to be a disastrous commitment. Since bi-racial marriages are no longer as shocking and controversial as they were 37 years ago, writers David Ronn, Jay Scherick and Peter Tolan, along with director Kevin Rodney Sullivan (“Barbershop 2”), jettison all subtlety, relying on broad adversarial comedy. Problem is: Ashton Kutcher’s charmless, delivering a forced performance, and Bernie Mac’s recycled shtick turns churlish. Yet it’s easy to see why 27 year-old Kutcher (TV’s “Punk’d”) was intrigued since, off-screen, he’s challenged the younger man/older woman stigma, living with 42 year-old Demi Moore. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Guess Who” is a bland, awkward, occasionally amusing 6, but shame on Columbia Pictures for showing the best laughs in the theatrical trailer.
