Get Out * * * *

Chris with his new white "friends"

      Get Out starts out great and gets stronger by the minute… up until the basement scene...

You ever noticed in any horror / suspense film it's always the basement scene where they push things just a wee bit too far?  

        Nevertheless Get Out remains a good drama with some snappy dialogue, disturbing scenes and characters, and a fair bit of black humour (pun intended).  More importantly it’s a film that makes a mockery of racism and cultural differences in a good way. It’s says more than any obsequious “politically correct” movie ever would.

        Chris is a nice boy who is a talented photographer who gets invited by his very white girlfriend to come to her parents house upstate and meet her very white family.  “It’s cool” she says, “They’re very liberal - they’d have voted Obama in for a third term if they could have”  (Considering the options in the last Presidential Election, I think most Americans would have voted for Obama again if it were possible.)

         Anyway, Chris and Rose make their way to her parents country home to meet her weird parents and weirder friends.

          Mum is a hypnotist and Chris finds himself under her spell.  He can’t be sure if he agreed to it or not. As the weekend progresses everything becomes like a disturbing dream, with people saying things that have subtle racist innuendos or embarrassing allusions to race.  Meanwhile the black servants are almost robotic in their behaviour. Then Chris meets a young black man who visits the house but his conduct is more white than black.

         Nothing is quite as it should be.

         Chris communicates with his friend Walter back in New York - a stereotyped “brother” with some very funny lines and attitude, but Walter does his homework and warns Chris to get out.

         Chris tells Rose that he is uncomfortable and wants to leave - that’s when the complications commence. It’s also when the cleverness turns to silliness, but they wrap it up quickly and with some satisfaction even if you do feel there has been a rather clumsy - and disappointing - change in tone when we get to the basement and learn what is actually going on.

       Considering the strength of the  message that it conveys Get Out is a good movie which should have given itself a better ending.