Although publicity for Guess Who, directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan, hypes the film as a comedy based on Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? (1967), the movie is instead an imperfect copy of Meet the Parents (2000). Simon Green (played by a nervous Ashton Kutcher), a stockbroker on Wall Street, is in love with Theresa Jones (played by Zoë Saldaña), who works as an artsy photographer. On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of her father Percy (played by Bernie Mac) and mother Marilyn (played by Judith Scott), the couple plans to be at her parents' home in suburban Cranford, New Jersey, for the weekend, when they intend to announce their engagement. Theresa, however, fails to tell her black parents in advance that Simon is white. Obviously, the script will require Percy to be initially hostile to a possible piece of white trash, while Simon will make foolish remarks in an attempt to be liked by his future in-laws. Unlike Meet the Parents, Simon will not destroy any property; he will just be traumatized by domineering Percy, who has long experience sizing up people in his job as a home loan officer. However, Percy will go too far, anger his spouse Marilyn, and will have to eat crow, a humble pie that will give him time to be brought to his senses about Simon. A strange subplot involves Dante (played by Robert Curtis Brown), the swishy decorator for the anniversary party, at which the parents exchange vows. He is gay and white, but Percy nevertheless tolerates him, if crudely, until he gasps upon meeting Dante's transgendered spouse, a second "Guess Who?," where the obvious possibility for more humor and psychological barrier transcendence is unfortunately not exploited. The satire, designed somewhat more for blacks than whites, will mildly tickle all filmviewers without saying anything profound except that whites still do not fathom the many racial issues that remain unaddressed as the twenty-first century begins. MH
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