When a young black man goes to visit his white girlfriend’s family, he starts to realize that not everything is as it seems.
Get Out is a deep (and dark) reflection on society, as we know it, and what’s more is that the writing is clever and witty but also downright scary. While it might seem from the trailers it’s simply a thriller about an interracial couple and racism that might come from that, the movie goes much deeper down the rabbit hole than what is let on which makes for such a worthwhile film. There are so many times throughout this film that we see the duality of humanity; how we can choose to be good or bad or how sometimes those choices get taken away from us. Peele also shows the sanctity of the mind and just how important knowing “true self” is.
What really brought the writing to life though are the fantastic performances that we see throughout the film. When a movie has a cast that is this stacked, you really shouldn’t be shocked that there are great performances, but even better is the chemistry that these actors had with one another, especially when interacting with male lead Daniel Kaluuya as Chris Williams. Kaluuya is a gifted actor who can emote so much with just his eyes and facial features (which Peele smartly relies on in certain key moments). He is the character that the audience relates to. He is your “joe everyman” which is why when you set off on this emotional roller coaster as you watch him shift from trepidation to paranoia to the end reveal (which I won’t discuss here) it is all that much more satisfying.
Kaluuya's chemistry with Bradley Whitford and Stephen Root was captivating when they were on screen together, but let’s be real here, Stephen Root is one of the best actors out there and sadly will never get the recognition he deserves. Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener are great as “the girlfriends parents” Dean and Missy Armitage. Bradley can go from smiling to downright sociopathic in no time and it make it all that much scarier. Catherine Keener carries a lot of the thriller baggage which she does a masterful job at, and will also make me see her in a different light when I re-watch 40-Year Old Virgin.
The only slight misfire in the casting would be Alison Williams as Rose Armitage who does a really good job at emoting the love and affection she has for her boyfriend, but her lack of emotion was a slight miscalculation. To be honest, if this had been another cast it might not have been as noticeable, but when you are watching a cast talent where everyone is giving you 10 out of 10, an 8 out of 10 is sadly all that ore obvious.
Jordan Peele’s writing/directorial debut in Get Out is so good, but there are still just a few missteps that keep this from being a thriller classic, but that should not keep you from seeing this film. The movie does its job with entertaining the audience. The crowd I saw it with was laughing, shrieking, people where literally saying “oh why are you going to do that?!” to the screen and it amplified the experience. The one thing that I really wish Mr. Peele would have done was amped up the thriller aspects. The funny scenes/lines were hilarious and you shouldn’t expect anything different from someone who is part of a duo that, arguably, had one of the funniest shows on Comedy Central. He knows what is funny and how it will play. But when it came down to the thriller aspect he toed the line but never went full on thrill and this is what keeps the movie from getting an A with me. There are times where the movie didn’t know exactly what it wanted to be more of. Did it want to be more comedy then thriller, more thriller than comedy and there was so much potential left on the table. The man can do thriller. In baseball terms, I would say this movie was an “in the park home run,” but now I want to see what he can really do. Now I really want to be scared by Jordan Peele.
When we write these reviews, its our job to make sure that if you are going to go see a film that is worthy of both your time and your money. Get Out is worthy of both of those. It’s a great film that while at times it might not know just where it’s going, you have to trust that it will get you to your end destination and you won’t regret a single moment of your time.
