Written and directed by Jordan Peele (of Key & Peele fame), Get Out is the story of what happens when Chris (Daniel Kaluuya), a black man, agrees to visit his white girlfriend's parents for the weekend. His girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), is extremely nonchalant and dismisses Chris's concerns that her parents will be shocked when they find out she has a black boyfriend. "My father will tell you that he would have voted for Obama for a third term," she tells him while rolling her eyes. As far as she's concerned, her parents are embarrassing, not racist.
Their weekend excursion begins innocently enough, and Rose's parents (played by Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener) seem like perfectly nice, welcoming people. And yet, as you might know from the trailers and from literally everyone who has seen this movie in the past two weeks, this is a horror movie. Before long, Chris becomes increasingly discomfited by how weirdly everyone is behaving around him, and while Rose seems to think he's being paranoid, he cannot shake off the feeling that something is not quite right. The only other black people in the house are the gardener and housekeeper, and every time Chris engages them in conversation, he can't understand why they don't react like the typical black people of his acquaintance. And yet, there's nothing overtly racist or frightening about anything that's happening. It's all lurking under the surface, and that is what makes things so particularly terrifying.
I dare not discuss the details any further because watching this movie unfurl its plot and hurtle towards its thoroughly satisfying conclusion is a joy that should not be denied to any moviegoer. Suffice to say, it is a pitch-perfect film, a profound commentary about the many ways in which racism permeates our society masquerading as a hilarious and bloody horror show. Black audiences will empathize with Chris's discomfort in his predominantly white surroundings and his resignation to the casually racist comments he encounters from every source. White audiences will uncomfortably recognize the weird things they or their families have said to their black friends. And everyone will jump in their seats as plot twist after plot twist is unveiled, even until the very last minute, when Jordan Peele turns your final race-based assumption on its head.
No review of this movie is complete without highlighting the superb performances that anchor this film. Daniel Kaluuya is an absolute marvel, the perfect audience surrogate who draws you into his every thought and action and has you rooting for him from the very first minute. Allison Williams is impeccable as the clueless Rose, a seemingly woke white lady who is still blind to her family's bizarreness. Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener are captivating, playing off their carefully cultivated white liberal actor images until their endgame is shockingly revealed. And special shoutouts to Betty Gabriel, Marcus Henderson, and LaKeith Stanfield, the only three black people Chris meets at Rose's house, who are delivering surreal, silent performances that only make sense once the plot is fully explained.
Get Out is a veritable onion of a movie - you keep peeling away and discover more witty and insightful layers that you missed the first time around. Even after knowing the plot, you could re-watch it multiple times to revel in the artistry of every scene and every piece of dialogue. It is insanely incisive and wonderfully funny. And it is also frightening - but less because of blood and gore, and more because of the way it reveals how racism is baked into our society in insidious ways we have never fully appreciated.
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