Get Out. A Review

Since Dave Chappelle walked away, Comedy Central had been looking for a Chappelle's Show clone to fill the void that had been opened up. They tried everything from here to Mencia and nothing seemed to stick, until Key and Peele came along. The show used the same social stereotypes to create a hilarious look at the world we live in, but it was no Chappelle's Show clone. Key and Peele was original and seemed like it was straight out of the brain of it's namesakes. Key and Peele walked away from their successful show in 2015 in the vain of John Elway, they stepped away at the top of the game and ever since then we have wondered what would they do next? Keegan-Michael Key has been popping up everywhere, with countless appearances on other TV shows and he will even be in the new Predator movie. Jordan Peele decided to step behind the camera and enter the director's chair, and his newest vision is the reason we are all here. Get Out could have been seen as a bit of a risky pick for Jordan Peele, known as a comedy actor he has decided to swap genres and attempt a horror/thriller. Once you have seen Get Out you will realize it is much less of a risky this move seems and while his comedy roots have not been abandoned, Get Out is validation for Mr. Peele, that he is not only a comedic actor, but a true filmmaker.

Get Out is more personal for Jordan Peele than the trailers may let on. He is biracial and is married to Chelsea Peretti, a white comic and actress known as head writer for Parks and Recreation and Gina Linetti on Brooklyn 99. I'm sure you already know but just in case you don't, Get Out centers on Chris who is in an interracial relationship with his girlfriend Rose. They are going to visit Rose's affluent family for the first time, and while Chris is a bit nervous about how Rose's parents will react to him being African American, he is taking the whole thing in stride. Chris starts to get a little less calm when things start getting pretty strange at the secluded lake house, not to mention the Armitage's are having a party that weekend that starts to feel like a Chapelle's Show bit in the vain of Eyes Wide Shut. The weekend starts off with some innocent ignorance, like Mr. Armitage assuming Chris would be interested in a story involving Jessie Owens, but starts to go off the rails when Chris notices someone he may know.

I don't want to get to into the plot, it is not necessarily full of twists but I would say the less you know the better. Jordan Peele also wrote the script and you can certainly tell. There is a combination of some racial satire and a tense thriller aspects in the script, with some fantastic straight forward comedy thrown in there in the form of Chris's best friend and TSA agent Rod Williams. Get Out is a movie that you may have a judgement about based on the promotional material. It may seem like white people bashing, and to an extent it is, but Peele does a fantastic job of pulling that rug out from under you. As for the thriller aspect, this may be the movie's weakest aspect but is still pulled off well. Peele has opted for more of a psychological thriller/tension building rather than gore or shock horror. The build up of the movie and the pay offs are earned and while I'm sure there was pressure to turn Get Out into more of a slasher, Peele stood strong and the movie is better for it. The movie feels almost like an extended episode of Black Mirror, and speaking of Black Mirror....

You may recognize Daniel Kaluuya from the second, and one of the best episodes of Black Mirror "Fifteen Million Merits". Kaluuya draws from a similar pool as he did in his stint on the Twilight Zoneesque show, and he gives the viewer a great canvas to put themselves on and experience the events of the film with. Rose is played by Girls star Allison Williams, and hopefully this will propel her into more Hollywood roles as she is incredibly talented. To go along with the younger talent, the elder Armitage's are played by Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener. Both are certainly veterans of the industry and make this movie better from the first time they appear on screen. The run away winner of this movie is Lil Rel Howery who plays Rod. He is the perfect comedic relief and although I'm sure having Jordan Peele writing the source material does not hurt, Howrey stands out in a sea of trees and steals the show.

There have been some amazing low budget thrillers in the last few years, Ex Machina and It Follows come to mind, and this is the niche that Jordan Peele wants Get Out to fall into. Peele has done more than his homework, you can tell that he has a love for these types of films and knows which buttons to push. This was not a project forced upon him or a cash grab, Peele wanted to make this movie and this movie alone. When Jordan Peele decides on his next movie, if it is another horror/thriller I don't think there will be any questions about his ability to pull it off. I am not just happy to see him do so well in his first project post Key and Peele, but I am happy to see him go off and do something outside his comfort zone and absolutely kill it. Get Out is just the start for the incredibly talented director but for now he can sit in the glory of a damn near perfect Rotten Tomatoes score and the validation that making a great movie, no matter the genre, provides.