A fresh, disoncerting, and often funny look at race in America

Rating: 8/10 (11 July 2019)

I totally disliked this at first. It starts off like an updated version of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", with a young, stereotypical white woman from an upper class family trying to prove her liberal, anti-racist bona fides by bringing her black boyfriend home to meet her family. But then things start getting interesting, as Chris (the African-American hero) begins running into increasingly disturbing situations. There is the faux-hearty banter with the family, with its racial overtones. And then there is the matter of the strange behavior of the family's black employees. Get Out is fresh, disconcerting, and often funny. Racial tension between white and black Americans is clearly the subject, but things never get preachy. I was not crazy about the ending, which veers into horror/cult movie territory, but this is a unique and fascinating film.