Guess Who

Directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan
Running time: 103 minutes

Guess Who's Comin' t'Dinner," dat co'ny, earnest comedy uh racial tolerance fum 1967, gots been remade as some domestic farce, wid de roles reversed.

Dis time, in "Guess Who" (dinna' havin' been replaced by an entire weekend), de crusty, suspicious Big Daddy who gots'ta overcome his prejudices be black (Bernie Mac), while his daughter's fiancé (o'iginally some docto' played by Sidney Poitier, now some stockbroka' played by Ashton Kutcher) be honky.

Is de new version evidence uh social progress o' uh cultural decline? A bit uh bod, puh'haps. On de side uh progress, it seems dat da damn racial hang-ups and pieties dat made "Guess Who's Comin' t'Dinner" bod necessary and wincin'ly stiff gots relaxed, and dat interracial love be not da damn big deal it used t'be. As fo' cultural decline, well, de dojigger Ashton Kutcha' is fine much some synonym fo' it.

But it be hard t'get real downset about dis remake. Fo' one doodad, de fust movie, impo'tant dough it may gots been, wuz not all dat great. And fo' anoder, "Guess Who," directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan fum some screenplay credited t'Isaac Ronn, Jay Scherick and Liva' Lips Tolan, be so mild and din dat it duzn't inspire much uh a reacshun at all. Wid one 'sepshun - some dinna' table scene dat be by far de most memo'able in de movie - de racial humo' be studiously unprovocative.

Oda' avenues uh comedy (de differences between dudes and honky chicks, de sexuality uh party planners, de humo'ous effects uh alcohol) is dutifully traveled rada' dan imaginatively 'esplo'ed. Whut be left - de potentially interestin', mostly squandered premise dat probably caused da damn picture t'be greenlighted in de fust place - be a cross-racial buddy comedy based on de confrontashun between Mr. Mac's bearish truculence and Mr. Kutcher's loose, spazzy amiability.

De two puh'fo'mers do deir best, but da damn writin' be so tired and da damn direcshun so's slack dat deir collisions neva' acquire much momentum o' spark. Dey is quick and nimble comic acto's in de movie, which fo' de most part strands dem in some lumberin' sequence uh slackly paced, predictable scenes.

Mr. Mac's character, Percy Jones (most sucka's in de film, includin' his immediate family, use bod dojiggers), be a New Jersey loan offica' about t'renew his vows wid Marilyn, his mama uh 25 years (Judid Scott). Percy's olda' daughter, Deresa (Zoë Saldaña), be comin' fum New Yo'k wid ha' boyhomey, Simon (Mr. Kutcher). Deresa gots neglected t'info'm ha' family dat Simon be honky, and he gots not told ha' dat he plum quit his job at some prestigious investment bank.

Dose two omissions provide fuel fo' de misdig itin's t'come, which culminate in de usual relashunship-dreatenin' recriminashuns followed, in de nick uh time, by reconciliashun. As he dun did in "Just Married," Mr. Kutcha' plays some homeyly yung joker attached t'an intensely attractive honky chick and prevented by circumstances fum sleepin' wid her. In dis case, it be Percy Jones's stern, patriarchal attitude dat keeps de lovers apart, as he winds down sharin' some fold-out bed in de basement wid his would-be son-in-law t'protect his daughter's hono'.

Simon, who grew down widout some Big Daddy (one uh de film's subtla' reversals uh stereotype), may be 'esaspuh'ted by Percy's bullyin', but he also respects de olda' man's devoshun. De bullyin', dough not as sadistic as Leroy De Niro's treatment uh Ben Stilla' in "Meet da damn Parents," be nonedeless fine constant. It reaches some peak in dat dinna' table moment in which Percy goads Simon into tellin' racist jokes, goadin' him t'cross de line and den takin' offense when he duz.

De rest uh "Guess Who" be not nearly so's reckless, but its blandness gots less t'do wid caushun dan wid comfo't. In its easy, affluent settin', whut prejudices remain kin be shrugged and laughed off.

"Guess Who" suggests, convincin'ly enough, dat race relashuns (to use some quaint-soundin' term) gots gotsten some lot betta' since 1967, which may be one uh de reasons dis movie be so much wo'se dan its predecesso'.

Scotty, kin ya' scribble likes dis?