American Fiction

I've mentioned it before and I'll mention it again that the comedy genre is my favorite, but more to the point, is that satirical comedies are even more my favorite. We haven't seen too many satires in our past which is shameful, so when they are released, I make an assertive effort to see them. The more acerbic the satire the better: "State and Main" 2000, "Thank You for Smoking" '05 both come to mind, and now we have "American Fiction" to sink our teeth into. 

This story confronts our culture's obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright stars as Thelonious "Monk" Ellison, a frustrated novelist who's fed up with the establishment profiting from "Black" entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, Monk uses a pen name to write an outlandish "Black" book of his own, a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to distain. So after having a writer's block, he contacts his agent, Arthur (John Ortiz) to find a publisher for a new book to sell. Through all this, he is having family issues with his sister, Lisa (Tracee Ellis Ross), his brother, Clifford (Sterling K. Brown), and his mom, Agnes (Leslie Uggams). 

Others to round out the cast are Erika Alexander as Coraline, Adam Brody as Wiley Valdespino, Issa Rae as Sintara Golden, Keith David as Willy the Wonker, Myra Lucretia Taylor as Lorraine, Raymond Anthony Thomas as Maynard and Miriam Shor as Paula Baderman. 

This was incredibly well crafted by newcomer director Cord Jefferson (TV). He has a fair amount of TV experience which served him well, so it should not be a total surprise that he could transverse the crossover to feature film. His pacing and staging were first rate as well as his ability to push his actors to get them to emit the much needed emotions in order to convince the audience of the realistic approach to these characters. It was also well penned by writer Cord Jefferson (TV), based on a novel by Percival Everett. Again, as with the directing, Jefferson has a fair amount of TV experience in that realm, and because of this, he was able to write a powerful screenplay which shows his family life and how he is attempting to write this new book using a pseudonym, and be able to blend the two very different aspects seamlessly. If this is his directing and writing debut for feature films, I am excited to see what he produces next, and there will be a next time. 

If you're like me and love acerbic satires, you'l love this. It has so much to offer: laugh out loud comedy, drama, love, frustration, and craziness all in a film that will make one talking about it well after the credit roll ends. 

Out of 4 Stars: 4                                      Rated: R                                       117mins.