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A Trip to the "White" House

Fans of Comedy Central's groundbreaking sketch comedy show "Key and Peele" will know Jordan Peele as one half of the duo who, over the course of the show's four-year run, sharply parodied many aspects of modern life, often finding humor in the contrast between prevailing black and white cultural norms. Classic sketches include a substitute teacher mispronouncing such common "white" names as Aaron and Denise, two buddies who try to one-up each other with the escalating complexity of their baseball caps, and President Obama presenting Luther, his "anger translator". This last sketch leapt the bounds of the show and entered the contemporary lexicon when President Obama incorporated Luther into his remarks at the 2015 White House Correspondents' Dinner, to hilarious effect.

Fans may also recall that "Key and Peele" offered a number of smart horror parodies making fun of the movie and film industry itself, such as the frustrated extra on "The Walking Dead" who can't believe that his pal with the terrible line readings keeps getting promoted over him, and two noisy hecklers in a theater who turn out to be hollering film criticisms at the screen ("I mean, has this dude even heard of mis-en-scene? Put some information up in the frame, bitch!").

It's in the sweet spot between horror, parody, and social commentary that Mr. Peele debuts his first feature, "Get Out", and his love for the genre is on deep display here with nods to such disparate fare as "The Stepford Wives", "The People Under the Stairs", and those weirdo 1970s isolated-mansions-with-mysterious-hosts movies like "The Legacy" and "Burnt Offerings". As with the best horror movies, "Get Out" is scary and highly entertaining, while serving as a skillfully crafted vehicle for addressing social issues.

Our hero is Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya, "Sicario"), an aspiring photographer who's in a budding relationship with Rose Armitage (Allison Williams, Girls) and prepping for a weekend trip to meet her family for the first time. They're a mixed-race couple, and before departing he cautiously asks her, "Do they know I'm black?" She treats the notion of delivering this information to her parents as absurd, and earnestly assures Chris, "They're not at all racist. They're not." The exchange is kind of humorous, a bit unsettling, and deftly sets up their positions: she's the blithe, post-racial optimist who might describe herself as "colorblind" and he's the cautious veteran who's willing to hope for the best in others but ready to resign himself to the worst.

Despite his misgivings Chris is welcomed with open arms - literally - by Rose's parents Dean (Bradley Whitford, The West Wing) and Missy (Catherine Keener, "Capote") at the family estate. He also meets the house staff, groundskeeper Walter and housekeeper Georgina, and there's an uncomfortable moment as Dean leads Chris on a tour of the spacious back yard and overexplains that he "hates how it looks" to be a white family with black servants.

This sets the stage for a number of exchanges that parody the tone-deaf overtures of white folks who don't know many black people. At dinner that night Rose's brother sizes up Chris as a potential MMA fighter, complimenting his "frame and genetic makeup". At a party the next day a guest asks Chris about his golf skills and name-checks Tiger Woods, another grabs his bicep and makes lascivious inquiries of Rose about his physical attributes, he's put on the spot by a third guest who wants him to expound on the pros and cons of "living as an African-American". And as he introduces himself to guests here and there he's frequently met with the peculiar response, "Oh, I know who you are." It could just be a classic culture clash, but other odd happenings, such as an impromptu hypnotism session with Missy, ostensibly to cure Chris's smoking habit, and strangely furtive behavior from Georgina and Walter, begin to imply other, more sinister possibilities.

Mr. Peele masterfully manages his storyline so that as Chris begins to piece together what's really going on with Rose's family, his discoveries cast prior events and exchanges in a completely different light. This cleverness reaches its peak in an audaciously staged auction, conducted as a silent bingo game, that implies everything you'd expect it to in a movie with a black leading man surrounded by white people intent on commodifying him... but it isn't quite what you think it is.

Lest you think that "Get Out" is heavy on the political messaging and light on fun, that's not the case at all. Viewers can appreciate the clever commentary or just enjoy "Get Out" as a rollicking horror story with mysteries to be solved and monsters to escape. Mr. Kaluuya makes a very appealing hero, and Ms. Williams matches him well, being alternately sweet and steely as needed. There's also some great comic relief in the repartee between Chris and his best friend Rod, who warns him early on, in classic horror movie fashion, "not to go to that house".

With "Get Out" Mr. Peele announces himself as a talented director with a steady hand, a great eye, and well-honed instincts for how to move a story along without rushing. His writing is also top-notch. "Get Out" is great fun - see it with a crowd if you can to get the most out of the laughs and the scares - and an all-too-rare contemporary horror film that will have you reflecting on larger issues long after the lights come up.