The Plot: Suburban white man Jeff Gerber (Godfrey Cambridge) wakes up one day to find his skin changed black, much to his horror and the bemusement of his liberal wife Althea (Estelle Parsons). Most WTF Moment: During a late-day argument, Althea tells her husband, "You should have told me this was an interracial marriage before we got married", one of the film's most biting bouts of absurdist humour. Why It's Awesome: Though no explanation or resolution is ever given for Gerber's transformation, Watermelon Man functions terrifically as a social satire par excellence, a cheeky send-up of race relations that's aged shockingly well over four-and-a-half decades. The title and premise might suggest a low-brow comedy, but this is a surprisingly sharp, audacious and hysterically funny (ahem) black comedy, with a killer central performance from Cambridge to boot.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
