African-American Chris and his White girlfriend Rose travel to the countryside to meet Rose's parents. Once there, Rose's parents Dean and Missy declare themselves as liberal and try to charm Chris, but he feels uncomfortable. Chris spots unusual behaviors of the two African-American servants to the family, and is hypnotized by Missy, and then wakes up the next morning. Chris is hypnotized again and tied to a chair in a basement, since the family plans to insert the brain of a blind old man into Chris' body. During the planned surgery, Chris escapes and kills the family. He is found by a friend and flees the house.
"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" meets "The Skeleton Key" meets "Being John Malkovich"—Jordan Peele's feature length debut film is an interesting example of observing race relations through the prism of an allegorical horror, but once again proves that social issues alone do not always automatically subsume greatness. The first hour plays out like a typical "meet the parents" story, with quiet moments of the African American protagonist Chris interacting with the parents of his White girlfriend Rose, equipped with such comical chit-chat scenes as the dad insisting that he "would have voted for Obama's third term if he could" or Rose joking after Chris came back to dinner by saying: "You missed a lot of nothing". Peele crafts a mysterious mood where the viewers constantly feel something is "off", especially in an unexpected, highly eerie mood shift some 35 minutes into the film, but cannot quite figure why until the final reveal at the end. Unfortunately, the last 20 minutes are moronically ridiculous, to such an extent that "Get Out" self-destructs in the end. The ending contradicts the entire story up to that point, switching from a movie about racism to a movie about ageism and conformism ("Black is in fashion", says one of the White guys to Chris), leaving a confusing impression, as if the author did not himself know what exactly he wanted to say. On one hand, it can be seen as an allegory on how liberals just use minorities to achieve their own private interests—but on the other hand, it makes no sense since it seems almost as a compliment to the African Americans (White people's ideal is to become Black). Had the plot twist been something else, like that they kill Black people for organ theft, it would have fit perfectly with the first and second act of "Get Out". But the plot twist we got here is just skewed, with some far-fetched situations (starting a surgery without the donor being in the same room at that time, for instance). "Get Out" is good, but it relies too much on guilt or political correctness, and too little on an inspired story on its own right.
Grade:++
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