The Digest
Simon Green (Ashton Kutcher), is a kind, sweet, and gentle man. He has a great job and a beautiful girlfriend, Theresa (Zoe Saldana). Her parents are renewing their vows and she is excited about him meeting them. She is everything she ever dreamed of in a man and she knows that her parents will love him even though in her father’s eyes, Simon has a slight flaw – he’s white
Theresa's dad, Percy (Bernie Mac) believes that no man is good enough for his daughters so against the approval of his wife, Loan Officer Percy has pulled Simon’s credit to get a reading on him. He declared that with a credit report as sparkling clean and perfect as Simon’s, that’s half the battle he must be amazing – he can’t wait to me this fine young “brotha” . What Percy (or Theresa for that matter) doesn’t know is that Simon has quit his job on the stance of morality. This will not help Simon’s case when Dad finds out that he is white. He chooses to keep this to himself which is a decision he soon regrets.
Simon has to prove his worth to Percy not as a white man, but as a man. Can Simon convince Percy that he loves Theresa and is the man for her, regardless of skin color?
The Dish
Interesting movie. No matter how you look at it, it will cause some controversy.
Even though race is the central theme, I would ask you to remove race from the equation. I know it’s a movie about an interracial couple, but just visualize a man meeting his girlfriends family for the first time and the comical situations that can put one in. This thought pattern kills some of the funniest bits as they were race bases, BUT you can still enjoy the movie.
Having said that, what would happen if the situation were reversed? A white girl brings home a black man OR a white man brings home a black girl? This is where we start to get a little deep. We can pretty much all agree that if you changed the races of the characters, but kept the dialog. There would be somebody in trouble.
Overall, I liked the movie. I worried a bit about the image of the black father being tarnished, but I quickly dismissed that as Percy clearly loves his girls. One thing I did have a problem with is Simon telling black jokes. He is egged on by the black family and he does explain it away as not wanting to give the jokes power. However, children, Mr. The Diva is a white man and he would never ever do that. My husband has never put himself in a position to be called racially insensitive by my family. The urge to tell a black joke would never even cross his mind.
I also had a problem with the gaggle of “women folk” cackling and giving poor advice. Not that this group of women doesn’t exist, hell that’s me and my 3 best friends, but they were WAY over the top. Theresa’s parent’s relationship seemed very normal to me. It reminded me of my grandparents and that brought a smile to my face.
Bernie Mac was believable distraught over his little girl finding the right man. Judith Scott as Theresa’s mom was shining star. She is not new to acting, but I’ve honestly never seen anything she has been in prior to this. Kellee Smith as younger daughter Keisha, was a hoot. And Ashton Kutcher was adorable. I love him in “That 70’s Show”, but on the big screen, I’ve never managed to find a performance of his that I liked. I think he reminds me of Ben Affleck – generally his performances under whelm me, but for every 10 bad turns in front of the camera, he manages to impress me at least once.
The Directive
Some of the jokes fall flat and some of the acting over the top, but the movie is still a pleasant diversion.
Guess What? “Guess Who” isn’t that bad at all.
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Copyright Kamal "The Diva" Larsuel-Ulbricht, 2005
EMAIL: thediva@3blackchicks.com
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Diva
Rated PG-13 ; running time of 105 minutes