Guess Who (film)

Guess Who is a 2005 American comedy film directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan. It is a loose remake of the 1967 film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, but instead of being about a black man meeting the parents of his white fiancée, this film focuses on a white man meeting his black fiancée's parents. It stars Bernie Mac, Ashton Kutcher, and Zoë Saldaña.

The majority of the film was filmed in Cranford, New Jersey.

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

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

Cast

 * Bernie Mac as Percy Jones
 * Judith Scott as Marilyn Jones, Percy's wife
 * Zoë Saldaña as Theresa Jones, Percy & Marilyn's daughter and Simon's girlfriend
 * Ashton Kutcher as Simon Green, Theresa's boyfriend
 * Hal Williams as Howard Jones, Percy's father
 * Kellee Stewart as Keisha Jones, Percy & Marilyn's daughter
 * Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs as Joseph Jones
 * Sherri Shepherd as Sydney
 * Robert Curtis Brown as Dante
 * RonReaco Lee as Reggie
 * Phil Reeves as Fred
 * Nicole Sullivan as Liz Klein
 * Jessica Cauffiel as Polly
 * Niecy Nash as Naomi
 * Kimberly Scott as Kimdra
 * Denise Dowse as Lisa
 * Richard Lawson as Marcus

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

Box office
According to Box Office Mojo, the film earned $68,915,888 domestically and another $32,950,142 internationally, giving it a total gross of $101,866,030 worldwide.

Critical reception
Guess Who received mixed reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 41%, based on 150 reviews, with an average rating of 5.40/10. The site's consensus reads: "Despite the chemistry of its stars, Guess Who, a loose remake of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, lacks the political relevance of the original."

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".