Taking a cue from his own surprisingly poignant Barbershop 2, director Kevin Rodney Sullivan's Guess Who, a contemporary inversion of Stanley Kramer's proselytizing dinosaur Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, surpasses expectations by presenting a trio of characters in various scenarios that actually offer some pithy commentary on race relations in these United States. It's a formula flick, make no mistake (one whose basic premise was mined as recently as Meet the Fockers), but in-between its usual glaring dad/fumbling beau gags, Sullivan takes the time to give each of his pairings moments of genuine connection.

A scene, already derided, where Bernie Mac's evil father-figure Percy--honed by Mac on his television show and essentially recreated here in full (while also dredging up the memory of the late, and gentler, Robin Harris)--encourages Simon (Ashton Kutcher), the white fiancé of his daughter Theresa (the stupid-beautiful Zoë Saldaña), to tell racially-charged jokes at the dinner table, is a beautifully timed and executed look at invisible lines and the difficulty of knowing when they've been transgressed. It's a little like a non-native speaker trying to distinguish similar sounds in Chinese--and how refreshing that the conversation this time doesn't revolve around whether or not the cracker homeboy is allowed to say "nigger." Another moment where Simon and Percy share an uncomfortable car ride during which every song on the radio seems to be pimping racial harmony strikes a different kind of chord, certainly a more pleasant one than the undercurrent of homophobia that currently transcends the black/white barrier.

There's a lot of wisdom in Guess Who, much of it stemming from an understanding that African-American filmmakers are often their own worst enemies when it comes to projects funded by white moneymen to appeal specifically to a black audience. It resists broad stereotyping (the white guy actually, and subtly, teaches the black guy to dance--and the black guy likes NASCAR) and, better, it needles the black community's own set of preconceptions and prejudices against white folks. Though Simon's a bit stiff, he has a reason that runs a little hotter than skin deep, leading to a late-film revelation as to why Simon's lied to Theresa about getting canned from his high-profile position that feels, of all things, heroic.

A frank, realistic conversation concerning the hardships faced by interracial couples is handled with seriousness and eloquence, and there's a late-night rendezvous between the two lovers that turns into not a sweaty paw, but a walk around the old neighbourhood as breathless as a scene out of the old Hollywood romance the Kramer original never was. Guess Who resists, at almost every turn (except, unfortunately, its terrible sing-along conclusion and epilogue), the easy way out of its old conundrums--you find yourself wishing that it wasn't as chained as it is to convention so that the interplay of the characters might move closer to the proscenium. Far from a masterpiece, far from perfect, Guess Who is nonetheless a pleasant surprise from a director who's beginning to earn a feeling of anticipation.-Walter Chaw (excerpted from a longer review found here)

1.84:1 DVD capture: Guess Who

Beware that the trailer for Fame II--er, Rent, Chris Columbus' upcoming big-screen adaptation of the Broadway musical--cues up automatically when you load Guess Who into your DVD player, because you'll have that "525,600 Minutes" refrain stuck in your head for days afterward. (I'm about ready to dig it out of my brain with a coat hanger.) Thankfully both it and the stupid teaser for The Da Vinci Code are imminently skippable--likewise, a pretty hurtin' commentary track from director Kevin Rodney Sullivan (who's so strapped for war stories that he turns the not-uncommon occurrence of a boom mike rearing its head into a full-fledged anecdote), a pretty hurtin' featurette, and some pretty hurtin' deleted scenes. And a gag reel, which like most gag reels is one of those "you had to be there" propositions. The 1.84:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer of the film itself is quite respectable, however, the warm palette and broad contrast combining to evoke the sensation of flipping through an issue of ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST. Edge-enhancement is minimal, though it shouldn't be there at all.

Also more than adequate, the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio gives the discretes a nice workout during the go-kart race and again in the film's final moments, and while the rest of the film sports a typical comedy mix, voices and music are optimally presented. As for those deleted scenes, there are seven in total, complete with optional commentary from Sullivan; the lesson of these elisions is keep Ashton Kutcher on a short leash, because his improvisations will just hit the cutting-room floor, anyway. (Sullivan actually feels compelled to point out in the middle of one Kutcher riff, "Here's where the comedy comes.") The gag reel (4 mins.) reveals the film's original title (The Dinner Party)--which is more than I can say for the utilitarian "Love is the Melody: The Making of Guess Who" (21 mins.). That being said, don't watch the latter if you have yet to see the film, as it spoils Guess Who's best scene. Rounding out the platter, great-sounding 5.1 trailers for The Legend of Zorro, Zathura, The Cave, Open Season, Stealth, Bewitched, Lords of Dogtown, xXx: State of the Union, Hitch, and Man of the House join the spots for Rent and The Da Vinci Code under the previews menu.-Bill Chambers

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