Guess Who (film)

Guess Who
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Kevin Rodney Sullivan
Produced by	Jenno Topping Erwin Stoff Jason Goldberg
Screenplay by	David Ronn Jay Scherick Peter Tolan
Story by	David Ronn Jay Scherick
Based on	Guess Who's Coming to Dinner  by William Rose
Starring	Bernie Mac Ashton Kutcher Zoë Saldaña Judith Scott
Music by	John Murphy
Cinematography	Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Editing by	Paul Seydor
Studio	Regency Enterprises 3 Arts Entertainment Tall Trees Katalyst Media
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures (US) Twentieth Century Fox (international)
Release date(s)	March 25, 2005 (2005-03-25)
Running time	105 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$35 million
Box office	$101,866,030

Guess Who is a 2005 American comedy film about race relations directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan. It is a loose remake of the 1967 film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, in the form of a romantic comedy. While the 1967 film covered interracial romance (of a black man with a white woman) in a serious, dramatic fashion, the 2005 film covered the topic (of a white man with a black woman) in a light, farcical manner. The film stars Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher.

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

Plot

Theresa Jones (Zoe Saldana) takes her boyfriend, Simon Green (Ashton Kutcher) home to meet her parents on the occasion of her parents' 25th wedding anniversary, planning to reveal that they are engaged. However, what Theresa has also left out is that Simon is white. Her father, Percy (Bernie Mac), dislikes Simon almost immediately because of his race (Joneses are black). Wishing to impress Percy, Simon lies to him about being a Nascar Pit driver for Jeff Gordon, not realizing that Percy is one of his biggest fans. After catching Theresa and Simon in a compromising position, Percy tries to force Simon into a hotel, but all the hotels in town are booked. Instead, he allows Simon to sleep in his basement on the couch, where Percy also sleeps. With the help of his personal assistant Reggie (Ronreaco Lee), Percy tries to dig up as much dirt on Simon as he can as well as creating the ideal black boyfriend for Theresa instead of revealing her boyfriend is white. He manages to get Simon to reveal that he lied about being a NASCAR driver and also that he needs a $50,000 loan. Simon discovers Percy's lies just as Reggie reveals that Simon was fired from his job. Immediately, Percy goes to tell his daughter this new information, however Simon claims he wasn't fired-he quit. Angry that he didn't tell her the truth, Theresa leaves while Percy's snooping temporarily strains his relationship with his wife, Marilyn (Judith Scott). The next morning Percy and Simon find the women to apologize, but while Marilyn and Percy reconcile, Simon and Theresa break up for good and he leaves. On the day of his anniversary, Theresa tells her father that she and Simon were going to get married. After wondering why a man planning to get married would quit his job, Percy realizes that Simon's boss told him not to marry Theresa so he quit. Percy goes after Simon and brings him back to Theresa where they get back together, then the festivities begin.

Cast

• Bernie Mac as Percy Jones
• Ashton Kutcher as Simon Green
• Zoe Saldana as Theresa Jones
• Judith Scott as Marilyn Jones
• Hal Williams as Howard Jones
• Kellee Stewart as Keisha Jones
• 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
• Richard Lawson as Marcus
• Mike Epps (uncredited) as The Cab Driver
• David Krumholtz (uncredited) as Jerry MacNamara
• Julia Ling (uncredited) as Speedracer

Reception

Box office

According to Box Office Mojo, the film earned $68,915,888 in the US and went on to earn $32,950,142 at the worldwide box office, giving it a total gross of $101,866,030.

Critical reception

Guess Who gathered mixed reviews earning a 43% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the final consensus stating that "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."

External links

• Official website
• Guess Who at the Internet Movie Database
• Guess Who at Box Office Mojo
• Guess Who at Rotten Tomatoes