Mac, Kutcher at their best in ‘Guess Who’

loading...

In theaters

GUESS WHO, directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan, written by David Ronn, Jay Scherick and Peter Tolan, 103 minutes, rated PG-13.

The broad new comedy “Guess Who” turns out to be Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher’s best film to date. But let’s not pop the corks just yet.

In spite of the nearly three dozen movies between them, each has yet to make a memorable film worth getting excited about. For instance, is it a compliment to say that “Guess Who” is better than “Booty Call?” More compelling than “Texas Rangers?” Superior to “B*A*P*S?” Guess not.

A quick glance at each man’s film career finds a sloppy trail of miscalculations and poor decisions. Mac is one of today’s better comedians, but he has yet to capture on film the sly, hot-tempered greatness of his television show, “The Bernie Mac Show.” Networks know what to do with him, but studios don’t. Even last year’s “Mr. 3000” swung short.

Kutcher, on the other hand, is more pin-up personality than actor. He’s a male version of Paris Hilton – obnoxious, hollow, manufactured for the moment. His resume is a laundry list of critical and financial flops, including such mind-erasers as “Dude, Where’s My Car,” “My Boss’s Daughter” and “The Butterfly Effect,” the latter of which found Kutcher playing a character given to embarrassing fits of hallucination.

The good news about “Guess Who” is that it requires no hallucinogens to enjoy it. A slight, satirical remake of 1967’s “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” – itself an earnest social drama that won Katharine Hepburn an Academy Award and proved the end of Spencer Tracy – “Guess Who” isn’t half bad, provided you go into it with reasonable expectations.

The film flips “Dinner” on it side, which sounds messier than it is. Instead of being about a black man meeting his white girlfriend’s family – as was the case with Sidney Poitier’s character in the original – it’s about Kutcher’s clean-cut Simon meeting his black girlfriend’s family over one long, tumultuous weekend.

If that sounds as though the film is also ripping off “Meet the Parents,” that’s because it is. But while the film is never as outlandish as that movie, “Guess Who” is still affable, an urban comedy steeped in stereotypes that predictably finds its mismatched characters coming to respect each other in spite of their differences. As banker Percy Jones, Mac is the voice of disapproval here, testing Simon at every turn with his cutting quips and bulging eyes. Percy’s daughter and Simon’s intended, Theresa (Zoe Saldana), is pure milquetoast, but Percy’s wife, Marilyn (Judith Scott), does bring a refreshing air of bemused detachment to the proceedings.

As for Kutcher, his character is essentially a long-suffering doormat, slightly more dynamic than a twig, but the straight man role does work for him. Unlike his previous movies, he doesn’t try too hard here, which proves just right. Sometimes, when the camera loves you and the rest of the cast brings the talent, that’s enough.

Grade: C+

On video and DVD

CLOSER, directed by Mike Nichols, written by Patrick Marber, 101 minutes, rated R.

Mike Nichols’ “Closer” is about relationships that occur solely on the stage or in the movies, but not in real life. Real life couldn’t sustain them. For that matter, sometimes the screen and stage can’t either.

As adapted by Patrick Marber from his 1997 play, the film is edgy but remote, not particularly likable but interesting. It’s meant to be a commentary on relationships in the 21st century, but let’s not read too much into it. By the end of the film, it already has read too much into itself.

Set in London, four lives collide here, beginning with obituary writer and aspiring novelist Dan (Jude Law) and stripper Alice (Natalie Portman), who have a chance meeting on the street that leads to accidental bloodshed, a hospital visit and romance.

They are together a year when Dan meets photographer Anna (Julia Roberts), who initiates a brief yet intense flirtation that fizzles – at least initially for Anna – when Dan admits he has a girlfriend.

Aroused by their meeting yet disappointed in how it ended, Dan goes home to the warmth of his computer, where he takes to an Internet sex chat room and starts a raunchy conversation with someone called Doc9. Doc9 is actually Larry (Clive Owen), a smoldering dermatologist fooled into believing he’s talking with someone named Anna.

Much sex talk ensues – the very graphic, lively sort – with Larry getting turned on by Dan and ultimately lured to the local aquarium, where Anna likes to frequent. Since it’s coincidence and not reality that drives “Closer,” Anna is naturally there when Larry arrives. What they find in each other after a rather awkward introduction by Larry is the sort of chemistry that proves the springboard for love. And then marriage. And then more problems than you can imagine as all of these jealous, beautiful, amoral people are mashed together and their relationships start to unspool.

For three-quarters of the movie, Nichols sustains the backbiting and ugliness, while offering a whiff of his 1971 movie “Carnal Knowledge,” which mirrors “Closer” in content. But then “Closer,” straining credibility as it lurches into its final reel, snaps from too many ironic, romantic twists that become absurd.

Just how won’t be revealed here, but the penultimate scenes let the hot air out of the movie, which unfortunately ends on ice. It’s a downer of an ending, but “Closer” still comes recommended for its acting, its flashes of wit, its individual scenes of low humor, and for the unexpected treat of watching Julia Roberts eagerly shatter her good-girl image with a dirty mouth that belongs firmly entrenched in the filthiest end of a trough.

Grade: B-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, and are archived at Rotten

Tomatoes.com. He may be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Alfie – C-

Alien vs. Predator – B

Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy – B+

Being Julia – B+

The Bourne Supremacy – B

Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason – C

Cellular – B+

Closer – B-

Collateral – B+

Dawn of the Dead – A-

De-Lovely – B

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story – B

Ella Enchanted – B

Envy – D

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – A-

Exorcist: The Beginning – F

Fat Albert – C+

Finding Neverland – C

Flight Of The Phoenix – C-

The Forgotten – D

Friday Night Lights – B+

Hero – B+

I Heart Huckabees – C-

The Incredibles – A

I, Robot – B+

Kill Bill Vol. 2 – B

Ladder 49 – B

The Manchurian Candidate – B+

Maria Full Of Grace – A

Mean Girls – B+

Napoleon Dynamite – B+

The Notebook – B+

Open Water – A-

Paparazzi – D-

Ray – A

Saw – D

Shark Tale – B-

Shaun Of The Dead – B+

Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow – A-

Troy – C-

Vera Drake – A

The Village – D+