How had No-one Thought of this Before?

Rating: 8/10 (22 March 2017)

When I first saw the trailer for this, my first reaction was 'how had no-one thought of this before?' A black guy meets his white girlfriend's family for the first time and finds himself wrapped up in a Stepford Wives situation where every other black person he meets acts really dodgy and he suspects something untoward. That premise was enough to get my bum in the seat, but it's near 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes sealed the deal.
As explained, Chris is a black man; a detail crucial to the underlying unease of the whole movie. His girlfriend Rose is white, and they're off to meet her rich, white parents in the middle of nowhere who have no idea of his skin colour. On the way Chris suffers microaggressions from a policeman (to which Rose acts his protective white knight), and her parents treat him nicely enough, but overcompensate a bit so as not to appear racist. "I would've voted for Obama for a third term" is an oft repeated phrase in the movie. There's also a social gathering of family friends inbound, again, all of which are white and middle-aged at the youngest, and none of which are obviously racist in the typical way. They're very accepting and nice of him, and yet the questions they ask highlighting his skin colour makes him feel increasingly uncomfortable.
The whole race debate aside, Get Out is undoubtedly a solid piece of filmmaking. It's story is quite simplistic in it's execution. We meet Chris and Rose, they travel to her parents house, they spend a day there hanging out, Chris starts to feel uneasy, the party guests arrive and things get more uneasy to the point where Chris wants to leave, and then there's a small series of twists and revelations that lead directly into Get Out's third act. By the time the credits roll, you realise how conventional Get Out's story really is. Race aside, it follows many of the same beats as a lot of thrillers, and doesn't hold too many surprises, but it executes it all so well it doesn't even matter.
As they say, the devil is in the details, and Peele has obviously put a lot of work into the little details. There's almost no filler in this movie at all, and every little thing is important to one degree or another. For instance it's no coincidence that Chris uses cotton wool to avoid succumbing to what basically amounts to modern-day slavery. There's other odd little moments and details that I missed the significance off initially until I looked back on them and figured it all out backwards. There's just a lot to keep an eye (and ear) on. Tied into this is some really good cinematography that's used to great effect. There honestly was a moment where I felt so overcome with tension that I was tempted to walk out because I couldn't take it any more. I didn't, obviously, but I felt like I needed to leave thanks in most part to how everything was framed and each scene composed made me feel uncomfortable.
Get Out is also actually quite amusing at times, which is no surprise coming from one half of Key & Peele. The scenes with all the guests at the party are obviously satirical genius, turning what could be completely ordinary conversation into something both simultaneously hilarious and uncomfortably awkward. But the other big source of laughs comes in the form of airport security Rod; Chris' best friend, who basically amounts to the movie's comic relief. Every scene he appeared in resulted in some fantastic audience participation in my screening. Crucially though, Get Out is never a comedy. It's humorous moments are used to heighten the uneasiness of the whole situation more than anything, offering brief respites from the uncomfortableness.
Acting is top-notch from everyone as well. Daniel Kaluuya is a revelation as Chris. He holds a charisma that makes him incredibly likable and easy to empathise with, and his ability to show a strength and put up with the way he's treated, while also showing how uncomfortable he is with it is the backbone of the entire movie. Allison Williams is also really convincing as the black sheep of her family (excuse the phrase) as the most genuinely accepting member of her family, while Catherine Keener and Bradley Whitford definitely seemed to have a lot of fun as the parents. They're charming and liberal enough that they're really easy to like, and yet suspicion is never fully lifted from them. Their performances are the perfect slow burns. Marcus Henderson, Betty Gabriel, and Lakeith Stanford are each on a level-playing field with their oddly- behaving personas, while as I've already briefly mentioned Lil Rel Howery is effortlessly the comic relief of the movie providing genuine moments of humour.
In all Get Out is a solid film in almost every regard. It's full of tiny little details that enhance the experience exponentially, and creates an atmosphere that's incomparably hard to stomach. It genuinely made me a little anxious watching it at times. While it's not jumpscares every ten minutes, and wouldn't fill a swimming pool with blood, it's undeniably a horror movie in the most cerebral sense, and for that it gets endless praise. It's intrinsic racial aspect is both it's saving grace and it's downfall though, proving a genius concept worth exploring, but maybe wasn't quite executed as good as it could have been. I give Get Out a solid 8/10 and would definitely recommend it.