Movie Reaction: Get Out

Formula: The Stepford Wives / Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

The horror comedy that is both successfully scary and funny is the white whale of many horror and comedy filmmakers. At first glance, it should be easy. Horror and comedy come from the same place: surprise. It's why some people laugh at the scariest parts of a movie or gasp during a shocking comedy moment. The skills behind both are very different though. In simplistic terms: Comedy is in the writing, horror is in the direction. Horror works when it takes itself seriously. Comedy works when it doesn't. Even horror comedies I love don't strike the right balance. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil is great, but it isn't really scary at any point. Cabin in the Woods is the only recent example of that working that comes to my mind. That is, until I saw Get Out.

Get Out tells the story of Chris (Daniel Kaluuya), a black man getting ready to meet the parents of his white girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams) for the first time. At first, things are awkward in the normal ways. Her dad (Bradley Whitford) is overcompensating for how cool he is with him being black. Her mom (Catherine Keener) disapproves of his smoking habit. Something is off though. The black people in the neighborhood - they don't quite make sense. They act like they are displaced in time or something. Rose's brother is super intense. Every single person in the neighborhood is overly interested in Chris. Eventually, he has to decide if he wants to uncover the cause of this weirdness or just get the hell out of the suburbs.

I won't spoil the explanation for all this, but even knowing it wouldn't ruin the movie. There's plenty of good jumps and scares - first time director Jordan Peele is surprisingly skilled at the horror movie tricks. The mystery is foregrounded nicely. The quirks early on are explained well in the end and inform every character decision I could recall. It's a smart well-written script. It's a little too high concept to work as just a horror/thriller, so making it a horror comedy was a smart move.

Peele is too good at writing comedy to not have some in the movie. The film is a great mix is social commentary humor, yelling humor - mostly from Chris's TSA friend Rod (LilRel Howery) - and all-purpose awkward humor. Peele isn't in the movie at all, but his presence is felt. The script manages to walk the tightrope of talking about race in heightened terms without being confrontational. In other words, this doesn't scare the white people away or let them off the hook. It's very impressive.

Get Out is a smart movie. It's funny. It properly honors the horror movies it pulls from. The cast is well-assembled for the parts that need to be filled. It's layered enough to see even if you know where the story is going. The much talked about 100% on Rotten Tomatoes isn't wrong. This is a very agreeable movie. It didn't blow me away, which I suppose is the closest thing to a negative I will say about it. It a competently made move in just about every way.

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend