One of the best written films of the year, AMERICAN FICTION is smart, thought provoking and laugh out loud funny.
With plenty to say about a woke cancel-culture, scathing perceptions of race across different cultures and the current state of the union, no film has made me laugh harder than this incredible cast does.
If you're going to cast a lead role with an actor that can deftly navigate drama and humor, you can't do better than Jeffrey Wright (Casino Royale, HBO's Westworld). He's flawless in his Oscar nominated role as author Thelonius "Monk" Ellison, whose intelligent books barely get published, their only fault being that they are too smart for the current room.
His agent, Arthur (a perfectly cast John Ortiz from "Silver Linings Playbook") very professionally tells Monk that his books aren't what publishers want. They want "Black books", at which point, Monk reminds him that he wrote a book, and he's Black.
As the film opens, we see Monk in his role as college professor, trying to teach a class on African American Literature to a woke audience. The white students seem the most offended, expressing their outrage and a complete inability to look at historical writings with any perspective beyond their own lifetime.
Monk gets some unrequested time off and heads to see his family in Boston. His sister Lisa (a perfect Tracee Ellis Ross) is a doctor serving underprivileged families. She's recently divorced, loaded with a dark sense of humor and growing concern about their mother Agnes (music legend Leslie Uggams). Agnes' memory seems to be failing. The three of them connect in their family beach house, joined by their lifetime live-in help Lorraine (Myra Lucretia Taylor) who has been part of their family for decades.
Monk and Lisa's brother Cliff (Sterling K. Brown from "This is Us") arrives, a freshly divorced and newly out plastic surgeon who's short on cash but ready to live his new life to the fullest.
Monk visits a Boston Book Convention and speaks in a very sparsely attended panel discussion. Everyone there is next door in the big room, listening to author Sintara Golden (Issa Rae) talk about her new bestseller "We's Lives in Da Ghetto". As she reads a passage to all the inspired white Karens in the room who clutch their pearls, apoplectic with admiration, Monk stands riveted by the pandering, stereotypical dialogue and characters.
After life conspires to create plenty of financial need, Monk decides on a whim to write his own trope, adopting the nom de plume of Stagg R. Leigh and loading the book with the very worst generic, outside perceptions of black culture he can come up with. He titles it "My Pafology" and of course it's embraced on a massive level that grows in intensity and absurdity for Monk.
Adapting the novel "Erasure" by Percival Everett, writer/director Cord Jefferson blazes a sure trail for Monk through every unpredictable turn this story takes. The cast is top of their game down to the smallest role. Jefferson's dialogue is perceptive satire at its finest. His work as writer on HBO's 2019 adaption of "The Watchmen" was excellent, but he's operating on another level here.
Wright is awesome as Monk and deserves that Oscar, but I don't know how he can beat Cillian Murphy or Paul Giamatti this year, both equally deserving. Wright's scenes with his new love interest Coraline, (Erika Alexander) who lives across the street from the beach house, are all perfect.
Anyone who loved Brown as Randall on "This Is Us" (that includes me) may think they've seen the full extent of his impressive range, but he does incredible work as Cliff. A superficial party guy on the surface, his scenes with Monk in the final half hour reveal a much deeper guy beneath that toned surface. Brown is nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar this year for his performance as Cliff.
I loved this movie.
It never chooses an easy path, but consistently makes hilarious choices to punch through to the absurdities of our current world. There are no predictable story arcs here, save one about the book of the year committee that you know is coming, but still creates huge laughs.
When Monk decides to change the name of his fake author's book to derail the absurdity, what he comes up with and how it's received is perfection. "The dumber I behave, the richer I get!"
The film's ending is so meta that it almost lost me, but Cord steers it carefully around every hairpin turn and brings it all home.
Watching the world today in all its rampant hypocrisy, we were all due a fresh, intelligent perspective that would force us to examine our state of affairs from our own angle.
I can't imagine a smarter, funnier kick in the ass than AMERICAN FICTION.
It's one of the best films of the year and perfectly timed.
Whatever Cord Jefferson does next, I'll be there.
AMERICAN FICTION gets an A+.
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