To be confessional, I didn't have the bar set high for this recent installment of "the comical bridges of the races" Bernie Mac-Ashton Kutcher product. Surprised as I was, "Guess Who" very much surpassed those expectations and worked throughly well as a hilarious comedy that attacks cultural differences with an irreverent, raunchy, and jovial punch. Simply put, here is a film that could have excelled with any number of premises, given the inimitable charisma and comic wit of Bernie Mac, who flat out carries the show on his own piercing, sarcastic own. Ashton Kutcher works well with what he is given, yet his character comes across as a trite, clumsy bumpkin to Mac's ferocious flare, and is merely the butt of every comedic catastrophe, rather than a multi-dimensional character who can hold a candle to thwarting his own preordained chagrin. Kutcher gets involved with "his other half", is initially terrified at meeting her father (he's better with moms), and all hilarity ensues when he and "the father with the bulging eyes and capricious temperament" get uncomfortably and frolically acquainted with one another, eventually realizing that maybe this relationship will require some self-depreciation and frenzy to eventually be accepted. To be certain, much of the comedy adheres to the "racial tension" theme, and there is of course plenty of the proverbial cultural clash that abounds- consummating with, you guessed it, a torrential family dinner scene in which Kutcher's "empowerment" eventually gets the best of him, but "Guess Who" isn't content to strictly deplore racial boundaries, as it also works effectively as a howlingly funny "meet the father from hell" scenario, succeeding solely on Mac's uncannily nimble charisma and wit, who has an aura about him that would make any future son-in-law shrink to his skin, or to a greater extent, be obliged to sleep and "spoon" with the man! Of course, while this is consistently amusing and funny, what we're mostly left with toward the end are the platitudes of mawkish sentimentality, of "rekindling the love we lost" that seem to always hobble the comedy of even the most outrageous of premises, as if the premise has been exhausted enough and becomes more of an "endearing love story" than a convivial comedy... Why is that? Anyhow, I would solidly recommend "Guess Who" for its cutting, raucous comedy and for Bernie Mac's spunky, fleeting charisma that really gives a convincing element to this otherwise wired premise. The laughing stock might not be constant throughout the film, yet there is just enough humor to enjoy and laugh yourself silly. After all, watching Bernie Mac popping a blood vessel over a basketball game, debasing a man's character for not being avid in sports, or keeping a cautious and close body near Kutcher's "nighttime affairs" is certainly worth the price of admission! *** out of ****
