Attack of the killer WASPs

Rating: 7/10 (17 November 2017)

"Get Out" follows a young black man who heads to his white girlfriend's parents' home in an upscale bedroom community. Things are a bit off from the beginning, but they become progressively weirder—and worse—as his visit unwinds.
Decried by the political right as "racist" and touted as a racial-political masterpiece by the left, it seems to me that most people are forgetting that, at the end of the day, "Get Out" is a horror film, and it earns its thrills amicably. Of course there are racial politics being commented on here—at times far too heavy-handedly so—but one has to remember that Peele's script is an exaggerated distortion as commentary on the current social climate around race as a topic; it's hyperbole at its finest.
As a horror film, "Get Out" is successful because it manages to generate tension and push buttons in all the right places. It plays to audience expectations just about as much as it doesn't, so there is both intrigue and the expected catharsis these films are known for delivered equal measure. Peele wears his influences on his sleeve here, with "The Stepford Wives" (novel and film) being a chief template, even down to the film's primly manicured lawns in what is ostensibly anywhere, Connecticut, USA.
The off-kilter atmosphere is strengthened by astute performances from all involved: Daniel Kaluuya is a sympathetic lead, and Allison Williams, though I found her profoundly annoying in the first two acts, plays the finale much better. Catherine Keener and Bradley Whitford play the white liberal country clubbers who voted for Obama to a t, but sublimate a perceptible weirdness that adds to the tension (especially Keener). The performances from Marcus Henderson and Betty Gabriel are also noteworthy in their utter weirdness, marked by odd expressions, movements, and gestures that throw the audience off over and over again. I did find the final act and reveal, as fun as it is, a bit routine; it's remarkably playful and has some clever shifts, but at the same time, it's nothing we haven't seen before—that said, it is nonetheless nicely played.
In the end, "Get Out" is a legitimately fun, atmospheric, and suspenseful offering. A large part of what allows the film to surprise its audience is its core commentary and observations on race, and what Peele has in essence done is inject that into a tried-and-true genre setup. It's wryly political as much as it is committed to maintaining its horror prerequisites. 7/10.