"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" is a wonderfully acted period piece that probably had more impact 50 years ago than it does today. Upon watching it, it was no surprise to learn that it was nominated for all 4 acting categories at the Oscars.
My favorite part of the movie was easily in the beginning. Watching the young couple, John and Joey, spring the major news on her parents. Their initial reactions were downright hilarious. Then again watching them spring the news on his parents. Then again springing the news that the two families will be having dinner together that night. I doubt I was supposed to find it as funny as I did, but I couldn't help but laugh out loud a good 5 or 6 times during those exchanges. Katherine Hepburn's blank stare and Spencer Tracy's double take were great. Some of the best moments I've seen in cinema in a long while.
As for the discussion on racism, some of it is as relevant now as it was at the time. Interracial couples still get looked at strangely. If that couple were real and did get married in 1967, they'd be very old now and would have been dealing with that type of racism their entire time together. In that way many of Spencer Tracy's character's worries were totally correct.
There's a bit of a lack of suspense to the drama part of the movie though. It seemed obvious that the characters were too smart for their initial doubts to also be their final decisions. And given enough time that they would all come around to, at the very least, tolerance.
If you enjoy fine acting, or need a bit of a history lesson on social norms of the time period, then Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is probably the best movie you can watch. It may not be action packed, but I enjoy anything with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn acting as well as they did in this film.
My favorite part of the movie was easily in the beginning. Watching the young couple, John and Joey, spring the major news on her parents. Their initial reactions were downright hilarious. Then again watching them spring the news on his parents. Then again springing the news that the two families will be having dinner together that night. I doubt I was supposed to find it as funny as I did, but I couldn't help but laugh out loud a good 5 or 6 times during those exchanges. Katherine Hepburn's blank stare and Spencer Tracy's double take were great. Some of the best moments I've seen in cinema in a long while.
As for the discussion on racism, some of it is as relevant now as it was at the time. Interracial couples still get looked at strangely. If that couple were real and did get married in 1967, they'd be very old now and would have been dealing with that type of racism their entire time together. In that way many of Spencer Tracy's character's worries were totally correct.
There's a bit of a lack of suspense to the drama part of the movie though. It seemed obvious that the characters were too smart for their initial doubts to also be their final decisions. And given enough time that they would all come around to, at the very least, tolerance.
If you enjoy fine acting, or need a bit of a history lesson on social norms of the time period, then Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is probably the best movie you can watch. It may not be action packed, but I enjoy anything with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn acting as well as they did in this film.