Director: Jordan Peele
Year Released: 2017
Rating: 2.0
African-American photographer Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) goes to visit the family of his Caucasian girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams, looking a bit like Amanda Knox) and he's concerned they'll have a problem with his race ... and they do, just not in a way he expects. Director Peele - who's done a lot of work with Keegan-Michael Key - wants to do satire (The Stepford Wives/Guess Who's Coming to Dinner but in a modern setting) but it's too heavy-handed and self-conscious: almost every single utterance has something to do with race - bigoted cop, the word "privilege" mentioned by Rose's dad, Jesse Owens, "black mold," "I do know Tiger!," "Is [the sex] better?" etc. - before turning into a violent mess. Since Peele's forte is comedy it should come as no surprise that Lil Rel Howery, playing Chris' best friend (and TSA agent!), is the best thing about it ("sex slaves!"), which makes me wonder whether just using humor (instead of "horror") would have produced a less passive-aggressive (and paranoid) product.
