Grade (B-)
A fun blend of thriller, horror and perfectly timed comedy.
“Get Out” stars; Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener, LilRel Howery and it’s written and directed by Jordan Peele.
The story follows Chris, an African-American man who visits his white girlfriend’s parents’ house for the first time and learns not all is as its seems with her family, or the odd activities going on in their secluded home.
Now I was very curious about this film. Everyone knows Jordan Peele for his comedic efforts and I think he has a great comical mind. I enjoyed Key & Peele, laughed my butt off through “Keanu” and was highly interested in what Peele could do, both as a director, and writing in a different genre. After watching I can say this was a fun movie. It had some flaws, and was not perfect but it was interesting, clever at times, and highly enjoyable.
The cast was great. Daniel Kaluuya was excellent in the lead, he carried the role perfectly and fit every persona the story needed from him. Allison Williams was serviceable, and both Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener were fantastic. I thought they were great as the odd parents, they both felt sort of sinister when needed, they perfectly conveyed the shiftiness of their personalities, and absolutely sold their intentionally awkward dialogue.
Also, the performance of LilRel Howery must be mentioned. He was placed neatly into this film to deliver some trademark Peele humor, and he completely delivers. In the screening I attended, he had the entire audience laughing and literally in the palm of his hand during his scenes later in the story, and that is something to say for a character with his amount of screen time.
For Jordan Peele’s first efforts in the mystery/thriller genre, I would have to call this film a success. It was well paced, built tension very well, and throughout the first-act and deep into the second, it was highly intriguing as the plot built mystery steadily from start-to-finish.
Also, in addition to the main cast, there were some great performances deep into the cast as well. Without going into spoilers, I will say the moments this story needed to build suspense and uneasiness were effective because of the scenes from the smaller performances as well, making the plot work for what it wanted to be.
Now like I said this film did have some issues. There were some elements of this story that felt borrowed. I think Peele created a unique premise, managed to fit in some social undertones, and delivered the intended eeriness. But there were too many other familiar elements built around the plot.
It felt like some of the rules the story created were broken at times, the film went from being unique to rather conventional later on and it hindered but didn’t kill the entertainment at all. It was still a solid first directorial effort from Jordan Peele and I’m looking forward to seeing more of what he has in that mind of his. But he has a success in his first outing my opinion. This film gives a little bit of everything, fits some comedy in very well, and was a fun movie that I recommend checking out.