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Leave it to a comedian to make one of the scariest movies in recent memory. Jordan Peele moves into writing and directing with this offbeat comedy, a fresh and fiendishly smart story with engaging characters and provocative themes. It's a combination of a knowing issue-based drama, lively romantic comedy and unhinged horror that hits all of its targets with precision. And it keeps us gleefully entertained with its escalating terror.

The story centres on Chris (Sicario's Daniel Kaluuya), whose girlfriend Rose (Girls' Allison Williams) invites him home for a weekend to meet her parents Missy and Dean (Catherine Keener and Bradley Whitford). Rose assures Chris that they're so liberal that they won't mind at all that he's black. But things don't feel quite right from the start. For one thing, there are two creepy servants (Betty Gabriel and Marcus Henderson) who seem to be lurking everywhere. And Rose's brother Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones) revels in stirring up problems. As things get increasingly freaky, Chris calls his best friend Rod (Lil Rel Howery), an airport security officer back in New York, for advice. Then things take an even more bizarre turn when Missy and Dean's friends arrive for an annual party.

Peele begins to play with the audience right from the start, using Michael Abels' disorienting music and Toby Oliver's quirky camerawork to maximum effect. Often this involves pushing us far too close to a character whose behaviour is just a bit off. Every moment is undercut with humour, including awkward moments and snappy gags that serve as a relief valve even as they set us up for something scary. It's such clever filmmaking that we have little choice but to sit back and enjoy the ride. And woven through all of this is an inventive and lacerating exploration of attitudes toward race in American society.

Continue reading: Get Out Review

There's nothing particularly original about this animated comedy adventure by Nicholas Stoller (Neighbors). It has the standard fast-paced snarky tone and too-frantic imagery, but the script is smarter than average, dropping deranged lines of hilarious dialogue into every scene. This gives the conversations an improvisational quality that keeps the audience laughing all the way through, unsure what might happen next.

It's set 20 years after the storks decided that there wasn't enough money in delivering babies, so they shifted to delivering parcels instead. The boss Hunter (voiced by Kelsey Grammer) is now planning to become board chairman, so he brings in his protege Junior (Andy Samberg) as the new boss. To prove himself, Junior needs to sack Tulip (Katie Crown), an annoying human who was left behind when the old business closed. Unable to do this, Junior transfers her to a back mailroom where no one will notice her, except that she inadvertently fires up the baby factory by answering a request from Nate (Anton Starkman) to bring a brother to his parents (Jennifer Aniston and Ty Burrell). So now Junior and Tulip need to deliver this infant before Hunter finds out.

While the plot is fairly predictable, the way it plays out is riotous. The film is a barrage of random asides, unexpected twists and loveably ridiculous characters. A smarmy corporate spy called Pigeon Toady (Stephen Kramer Glickman) is amusingly smarmy, while a pair of bickering arctic wolves (Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele) add some snarling suspense, even though they're too funny to be scary. Everything is so energetic and colourful that it's difficult to mind that the plot makes very little logical sense. And the loose style of vocal performance gives the whole film a zing of comical anarchy.

Continue reading: Storks Review

An entertaining hybrid of satirical comedy and action thriller, this madcap adventure swerves wildly between grisly violence and silly slapstick. Thankfully, its central characters are played by the likeable Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, with able support from a range of up-for-it A-list supporting players. Plus perhaps the most adorable kitten ever put on film.

Key and Peele play Clarence and Rell, a family man and his stoner best pal living in suburban Los Angeles. Rell is wallowing in a recent breakup when he finds a cute little cat and adopts him, naming him Keanu. Then his house is burgled and Keanu is stolen. So he and Clarence team up to find the lost kitty. The problem is that their search leads them to vicious gang boss Cheddar (Method Man), who has fallen for Keanu's charms. When Rell and Clarence stumble into the gang's lair, they are mistaken for a pair of notorious hitmen, and decide to play along with it, straining to pose as vicious assassins in a series of escalating situations in which everyone is trying to kill everyone else.

This is a very clever play on the stereotype that every black man must be a violent thug. Rell and Clarence are nice guys from a relatively well-off neighbourhood trying with increasing desperation to mimic the vicious, street-smart goons they've seen in movies, which are their only point of reference. Along the way, they poke pointed fun at both urban crime thrillers and black subculture movies. Plus constant allusions to the career of Keanu Reeves, who even voices the kitten in a dream sequence. Key and Peele play these characters with a mixture of warm affection and dorky charm. And their interaction with the starry supporting cast is hilarious, from Cheddar's sharp henchwoman (Tiffany Haddish) to riotous cameos from the likes of Anna Faris, Will Forte and Luis Guzman.

Continue reading: Keanu Review