Behold. The Coagula.

Rating: 6/10 (18 February 2018)

The amiable Daniel Kaluuya gives an enjoyable breakthrough performance as Chris Washington, a young black artist dating white girl Rose Armitage (Allison Williams). Five months into the relationship, and it's time to meet her parents. They live in a back of the beyond universe populated almost exclusively by whites, along with a few black people who behave quite strangely. Chris will discover some nefarious doings by Roses' mom and pop (Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford) and these other members of the white elite. Will he be able to "get out" of this situation before it's too late?
Overall, the filmmaking debut for sketch comedian Jordan Peele is a respectable, if not great, effort to blend some commentary on racial relations with a tried and true, formulaic Hollywood thriller. This viewer could point out the film that seems to have inspired Peele the most, but that would be along the lines of a spoiler. While the film is technically well made and well paced, and builds towards an appropriately visceral finale, it is troubling in some ways. Its "mystery" is easy to figure out (Hell, Chris' seemingly paranoid friend Rod (LilRel Howery) may actually be on to something), and the characters are pretty "black and white", if you'll pardon the expression. Undoubtedly, the film is perfect at being manipulative, with villains whose violent comeuppance is the ultimate catharsis.
The cast provides most of the value. Williams is good as the girlfriend who, at first, tries to have you wondering "is she or isn't she". Old pros like Keener, Whitford, Stephen Root, and Richard Herd do as much as they can with cliched roles. The lively and profane Howery is quite amusing. Caleb Landry Jones dials up the seediness to 11 in his role as Roses' loutish brother Jeremy.
As this viewer said, the scenario is likely to get the blood of some audience members boiling, but it could have used a bit more restraint. It's certainly entertaining to a degree, and clearly it did hit a nerve with the movie-going public, even garnering some Oscar nominations.
Six out of 10.