Wonderfully absurd and effectively creepy.

Rating: 7/10 (17 June 2017)

Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) is a young African American photographer whose white girlfriend Rose Armitage (Allison Williams) wants to take him to meet her parents, psychotherapist mother Missy (Catherine Keener) and neurosurgeon father Dean (Bradley Whitford). Chris is worried that Rose hasn't told them that he is black, but she assures him that they won't be the slightest bit bothered about his race. As it happens, his colour turns out to be the least of his worries as his growing suspicions that there is something very sinister afoot at the Armitage house turn out to be well founded.
Not long after Chris arrives at Rose's parent's house, matters begin to get weird, Mr and Mrs Armitage's affable behaviour a little too perfect, while their home help, maid Georgina (Betty Gabriel) and groundsman Walter (Marcus Henderson), act in a manner that can best be described as freakin' bizarre. A party for friends and family introduces more strange characters into the mix, most of whom are politely racist. Something clearly isn't right about this picture, but the viewer is wisely kept as much in the dark as Chris, while director Jordan Peele exhausts all of the possible paranoia/conspiracy angles. All the strings are pulled together in the final act, in which Peele reveals the outlandish truth, going for tension and scares, with just a little gore for good measure.
As a Caucasian, I guess I could take offence at the film's portrayal of white folk, who, with no exception, are evil bastards who covet the physically superior body of the African American. Instead, I just found the whole crazy notion too absurd to take seriously.