{"id":6462,"date":"2017-02-24T03:19:41","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T08:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=6462"},"modified":"2018-06-28T13:39:03","modified_gmt":"2018-06-28T17:39:03","slug":"review-jordan-peeles-sharp-horror-comedy-get-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/review-jordan-peeles-sharp-horror-comedy-get-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Jordan Peele’s Sharp Horror-Comedy ‘Get Out’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A movie about an African-American boyfriend visiting his white girlfriend\u2019s family home sounds like a hackneyed drama about race relations in America. But Get Out<\/i> is no Guess Who\u2019s Coming to Dinner?<\/i> The movie twists the cliched setup into a sharp horror-comedy \u2026 that is also an allegory about race relations in America.<\/span><\/p>\n

You know all the terrible things that happen in scary movies, even if you aren\u2019t a fan of the genre. \u201cTropes\u201d is just trendy shorthand for the long menu of commonly used situations in film and TV, everything from \u201cdon\u2019t go down to the root cellar\u201d to \u201czombies will eat your braaains\u201d and \u201cthe virgin dies last.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Writer-director Jordan Peele (of Key and Peele<\/i>) knows you know those tropes, and Get Out<\/i> spends about an hour and a half keeping you riveted as you wonder how many of those terrible things will happen to which characters and when. Expert timing and the judicious use of horror build, defuse, and rebuild the suspense.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) is worried because his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), has neglected to tell her white family that her new boyfriend is African-American. After all, it\u2019s \u201cpost-racial\u201d 2017, why does it matter? Chris knows it does matter, and his discomfort deepens as they arrive at the remote family home … on a lake in the middle of the woods. Moment by moment, he questions — and so do we — whether it\u2019s simply an awkward situation, or if something more sinister is afoot.<\/span><\/p>\n

But he\u2019s fairly chill about dealing with the Armitages: Rose\u2019s mother, Missy (Catherine Keener), a psychiatrist who specializes in hypnotherapy; her dad, Dean (Bradley Whitford), a celebrated neurosurgeon who hammers home the dad jokes; and brother Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones), an unexpectedly aggressive drunk asshole.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris shares his anxiety by texting his best friend Rod (Lil Rel Howery), a jovial guy who likes to remind everyone that he works for the TSA. Unfortunately, Rod spins ludicrous paranoiac theories that don\u2019t calm Chris one bit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Portent-with-a-capital-P consistently drives the suspense in Get Out<\/i>. The first half is crammed with portent. Every scene includes an image or a line of dialogue that might pay off later. When Dean tells Chris, \u201cWe have the basement closed off \u2026 black mold<\/i>,\u201d you immediately imagine numerous frightening basement-related possibilities. Dean later observes that his house has no near neighbors, just woods and a lake, and you recall every possible cabin-in-the-woods scenario, none of which end well. <\/span><\/p>\n

But you don\u2019t know how these ominous elements will surprise you as the film progresses \u2026 if at all. The filmmaker could be toying with you. He could be trying to tell you something, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

The creepy, over-the-top dialogue and characters serve another purpose. They put the audience in Chris\u2019s shoes, to help even the most privileged viewer feel the wariness this young black guy is experiencing in a house full of people who not only aren\u2019t like him, but who could eventually try to harm him. People who automatically change their words and their actions around him because of the color of his skin. <\/span><\/p>\n

The typical horror framework of Get Out<\/i> pays off beautifully, not just in entertainment value but in thought-provoking messages about contemporary racial problems. I could write an essay on that theme alone, but I\u2019d spoil the ending.<\/span><\/p>\n

Occasionally the metaphors are a little too obvious, such as the ridiculous character portrayed by Stephen Root — but we often expect Root\u2019s roles to be a little goofy, so it works. Rose\u2019s brother Jeremy is slightly too cartoonish in his drunken unpredictability. And when you put Bradley Whitford in a film like this, people will immediately think of The Cabin in the Woods<\/i>, but again, this is to the movie\u2019s advantage. <\/span><\/p>\n

I get squeamish about gory movies, but I only had to peek through my fingers a couple of times during Get Out<\/i>. Some of the more graphically violent moments are partially hidden from view or cast in shadow, which I find more intense and effective than a visceral depiction of blood and gore. <\/span><\/p>\n

Get Out<\/i> is a fine horror film \u2026 and the horror in it isn\u2019t merely the fault of a few random evildoers. Artfully, humorously, without the sledgehammer many \u201cmessage movies\u201d use, we see that real evils are far deeper and more pervasive. It’s not only for fans of the genre.<\/span><\/p>\n

Grade: A-<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
\n

Jette Kernion<\/a> lives in the creepy, isolated village\u00a0of Austin, Texas.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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