Taylor and Howe
Morning Star columnists
Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams), have reached the point in their new relationship where it’s time for him to meet her parents, Missy (Catherine Keener) and Dean (Bradley Whitford).
At first, Chris thinks Rose’s parents are just trying too hard to deal with nervous feelings about their daughters’ interracial relationship. As the weekend progresses, the family holds an annual party where guests arrive and act strange, prompting Chris to investigate. His disturbing discoveries uncover a dark family secret.
We say, “Get Out is odd.”
HOWE: I think M. Night Shyamalan has some competition in the form of writer/director Jordan Peele (Key & Peele, Mad TV). Get Out is a very tight, well-written and acted movie. It is dotted throughout with comedy and a few twists that will keep you guessing till the end.
What I really liked about it is that it didn’t try to be something it isn’t. It could have gone down a different path or been so far-fetched as to spoil the story, but Peele keeps it simple and it works nicely.
TAYLOR: I don’t know that it was simple as much as it was blunt, which is where a lot of the comedy came from. Everyone acted very odd, saying and doing strange things that made it very clear that something was up. So much so that at times I expected to hear a laugh track in the film. It reminded me of the more abstract skits of Bruce McCulloch of The Kids in the Hall. Not that they dealt with issues of race relations, as Get Out does, but in that extreme characters act weird and no one ever explains why. In Get Out, they even make a point of not explaining the why.
HOWE: From time to time we comment about jump scares being cheap, but the ones that are in Get Out work well. The movie itself feels old, yet new. We have seen this sort of thing before. The ’80s gave us The Stepford Wives, and Get Out is very much along a similar vein, yet slightly different.
It is worth a gander.
TAYLOR: I agree. It’s an interesting and entertaining movie. I was just disappointed that it lacked the substance that could have made it great. It’s definitely unique and I expect Peele will produce other interesting films. For my movie going dollar though, A Cure for Wellness is a more artfully crafted trip.
Taylor gives Get Out 3 camera flashes out of 5.
Howe gives it 4 sets of car keys out of 5.
Brian Taylor and Peter Howe review the latest films for The Morning Star every Friday.