I went to catch the much-talked-about and anticipated Get Out this weekend. I picked a 5 p.m. showing thinking that would be a great time to be able to have much of the theater to myself, so I could take notes and think, by myself. Boy, was I wrong, I hardly got a SEAT! Not only that, but the audience obviously loved the film, gasping at the right times, yelling at the hero to… you know, GET OUT! It was a fun time, to be honest. The movie is a good movie, enjoyable and worth watching, but it’s not a masterpiece. So, let’s get started talking about the good and the bad in Get Out.

First of all, I’ve seen this movie before. For me, to name the many films this movie holds similarities to would force me to give away the main plot. I can say, however, this is not a new idea, by any means. In Get Out, a young black man goes home with his white girlfriend to meet her parents. Almost immediately, things seem off. Not oh, so you are dating a black guy off… more did I inadvertently step into some kind of horror movie off (hint: he did)… and he, you know, didn’t drive. (This is why, as a high schooler and college student, I drove to every party I went to. You never know what kind of nutjob might be there.) So, our hero is stuck, in the middle of nowhere with Zombie-eyed servants and vaguely menacing hosts.

The main theme of the film is, of course, racism. If you know anything about this movie, you already know this. To really make such ideas hit home, you have to punch hard. You can’t hold them back, so to speak. I really would have liked to have seen new directer Jordan Peele go harder for the jugular. That’s the thing about horror: you can’t show all of the ugly if you don’t peel back all of the layers. “Why us, why black people?” our leading actor Daniel Kaluuya asks during the film, when things are finally explained to him… and no real answer that makes any sense is given. Sure, I have read other reviewers who have dug deeper to come up with their own answers, but I’m looking to the director for better answers. There are other inconsistencies that I can’t go into in a review without giving away some key plot points, but as a horror buff, my head was trying hard to make sense of a few things that just don’t quite work. Seriously, why black people? The answer really doesn’t mesh well with reality.

Now, all of that aside, that doesn’t mean the film isn’t a good time… because it absolutely is. Daniel is very likable in his role. You identify with him and feel his fear and confusion, even if you aren’t black. The movie isn’t a slow burn you have to sit through to get to the good part — it starts off with a bang. While I didn’t feel the atmosphere or surroundings were particularly creepy, the soundtrack took care of the atmosphere for you. Not to mention, there is real humor in the film and I laughed more than a few times. The audience left the movie all talking about how good the film was. Blacks, whites, everyone had a great time. At the end of the day, everyone knows the feeling of being someplace where you don’t quite fit in. That’s a universal emotion which this movie beautifully portrays.

I give Get Out three and a half stars for being a fun, fast-moving film that keeps the viewer engaged. Get Out is currently in theaters, check your local listings for times.