I Don't Get The Hype

Rating: 5/10 (10 March 2017)

Cookie cutter suspense/thriller/horror flick that isn't very suspenseful or thrilling or scary. The only real change from the norm with this movie is that it features a black man as the lead actor, and early on in the movie it touches on some of the problems of interracial dating from a black man's perspective. I found some humor in the way that the white family (and later their white friends) interacted with the lead character...going out of their way at times to either talk about how they voted for Obama or loved Tiger Woods...basically doing and saying the things that white people say to black people in an attempt to prove they aren't racist.
The movie was fairly well acted despite not having exceptionally strong material to work with. I thought Daniel Kaluuya turned in a really strong performance and he really saved the movie, imo. I don't recall seeing him in anything else prior to this, but he gave an excellent performance and I hope this serves as a spring board to bigger/better roles. Seems very talented.
My biggest problem with this movie is that I don't know what it was trying to be. It kind of hit a little bit with the satire and humor elements, but all in all, the movie just doesn't really have an identity. The "mystery" behind everything was not well concealed and the twists and turns you'd expect from a movie like this just never developed. I had this movie pretty well figured out before the halfway mark, which made for a less enjoyable second half of the movie. I'm pretty amazed by all the rave reviews it's getting.
It is a bit groundbreaking in it's own right strictly for the cultural/social/racial aspect - as that has been largely neglected in movies, especially this genre - but once you get passed that and just look at the movie for what it is, I can't really give this movie anything more than a middling grade. Not the worst movie I've ever seen by any means, but also not really worth the price of admission either. Wait for it to come out on Netflix and enjoy from the comfort of your own couch.