American Fiction
Directed by Cord JeffersonA novelist who's fed up with the establishment profiting from Black entertainment uses a pen name to write a book that propels him into the heart of the hypocrisy and madness he claims to disdain.
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American Fiction Ratings & Reviews
- Desmond DaleJanuary 24, 2025On rewatch I have to say that my love for this film has grown exponentially. It's simply incredible how Cord Jefferson has managed to offer direct commentary and satire of the reductive Tyler Perry style black familial melodramas while simultaneously leading by example and creating his own drama centered around a dysfunctional yet loving black family that's atypical and progressive. The end is also brilliant as Cord decides to get even more meta by having his lead protagonist talk directly to the director of the film that we're essentially watching and throwing out different endings until they settle on what's arguably the most contrived because Hollywood is only pleased when black people are getting shot or arrested or both.
- nick wasslenMay 24, 2025Absolutely brilliant. Biting satire of the white capitalist, bougie wokeness rampant in the west.
- neuroparadox4d agoI hope this wins Best Picture, I can't think of a better ending than that. Sharing to all my white friends now!
- Kevin WardJuly 2, 2025Loved this. Jeffrey Wright plays Thelonius “Monk” Ellison, an academic, and published author who’s having difficulty finding distribution for his latests work because it’s not “black” enough. Out of frustration and indignation he pens a new book under a pseudonym that panders to a white audience and perpetuates negative black stereotypes. You can probably guess what happens next. Funny from start to finish filled with acerbic wit, thought provoking satire and thick with irony. Jeffrey Wright is perfectly cast as Monk/Stagg R Leigh. Also Sterling K Brown is shirtless the entire movie. Plus, put Adam Brody in everything and give us The Kid Detective sequel we all deserve. Also reminded me of Adaptation in many ways. Highly recommend.
- Rowan KrzysiakFebruary 12, 2025It takes a bit for the puzzle pieces to come together but stay patient and you will be handsomely rewarded. Top stuff, highly recommended.
- Ray HopkinOctober 12, 2024An excellent movie, so well written and with an amazing supporting cast. But Jeffery Wright shows why he is such a great actor, giving Monk a relatable but flawed personality, that despite everything, you still want to root for him.
- RyezooFebruary 4, 2025For a movie about writers, this sure does have a great script! Made me laugh many times and the acting across the board was really good. Well definitely rewatch when it becomes available digitally.
- qmechanJanuary 23, 2025This mediation on art and race Shows half condemnation, half-grace. Like Bamboozled, it asks why it's harmful to mask when a mind's outpaced by a false face?
- vangh1December 18, 2024Absolutely brilliant in its ability to feel both grounded and big for the sake of it's message, it's comedy, and it's human-ness. It's ability to have the plot be big and ridiculous and go exactly where you think it will, while also having the quieter human story thrumming alongside and being the anchor that makes the ridiculousness make sense was masterful. The scene where Monk and Sintara are discussing the difference between the two books over lunch was some of the best writing I've seen in a while. Absolutely loved, loved, loved this.
- TanalienNovember 2, 2024The Black family at the heart of Cord Jefferson’s script could encompass any ethnicity in America. Make it a story about an Indian, Latino, Chinese, or Native family. It could just as heartfelt and equally caustic. Ethnic stereotypes abound – and they can be exploited for big monetary gain. The universal question that Monk confronts is whether falsely validating anyone’s wide generalizations about a specific group is a sin.
- rg9400November 1, 2024American Fiction is a fascinating movie that is both a lot more and a lot less than I was initially expecting. There are essentially two separate stories here, that while they do interact and influence each other, also feel distinct in a way where I feel they do not exactly complement/reflect each other as well as they could. The A plot is what the trailer heavily plays into, the idea of a black writer who plays into racial stereotypes to illustrate the absurdity of tokenization, only to then see himself become a bestseller. The B plot revolves around a surprisingly deep exploration of the same writer's personal relationships and ties to his family and close ones. The A plot brings the humor, with some excellent comedic moments, as well as thematic depth including some fairly open-ended but complex topics that left me thinking about the multitude of sides to the idea of identity and how it is reflected in media and literature. Despite feeling slightly open-ended, I feel the movie is a microcosm of the entire idea it is dissecting, and so I was okay with it leaving us feeling like there were no easy answers. The B plot, however, also feels like it never fully resolves some of the character arcs that were set up. And while I do understand the conceptual idea of there being no easy answers there either, I did feel a bit let down in that regard. Still, I was not expecting the character study aspect, and I found it a welcome surprise, even if I wish the A plot and it were more balanced (the B plot tends to dominate the movie in my opinion) and complementary. Sterling K. Brown's acting in particular deserves special attention because I found it incredible and honestly one of my favorites of 2023.
