REVIEW: ‘American Fiction’ is astute and immensely funny

Truth is often stranger than fiction, but in “American Fiction,” the tale made-up by the protagonist is far more outlandish than his reality.

Jeffrey Wright stars as Thelonious Ellison in the film, although many just call him by his nickname, Monk. A writer and college professor, Monk finds himself in a bit of a career rut, with little interest coming from publishers in his new novel. At the same time, he sees other black writers getting a ton of success by writing stories about African American trauma and hardships.

Wanting to make a statement, Monk writes his own book in the same style, hoping that it will be taken as a satirical jab on the genre. Instead, it’s taken seriously and becomes a success. As he needs money because of a personal tragedy, Monk plays along.

At its best, “American Fiction” is a laugh-out-loud dramatic comedy with razor sharp satire. The humorous moments in the film have such a great edge, with writer Cord Jefferson jabbing the entertainment industry’s portrayal of Black trauma, racial stereotypes and other tropes.

Jefferson, who also directs, adapted the film from the novel “Erasure.” Interestingly enough, while the novel was written in 2001, its story still fits well here more than 20 years later, with Jefferson showing that the media is still mainly focusing on Black suffering and a lot of the demand continues to come from a white, neoliberal audience.

Not every moment exploring this is comedic, though, as the movie also shows Monk having honest discussions about the Black community’s portrayal across media platforms with those close to him and his colleagues. Jefferson gets to the root of what the film is going for in these moments.

With that said, when the film centers on Monk’s personal life, it loses a lot of momentum. A big issue is the film doesn’t do a good enough job in bridging the character’s professional and personal lives together.

One could make the argument that there’s an irony in Monk is criticizing stories of Black people experiencing hardships in media when he himself is going through a difficult time himself. But as previously mentioned, Monk’s experience with the new book and his family life aren’t connected well.

Another issue is a lot of the difficulties thrown at Monk in the film feel somewhat unnecessary. There was definitely enough material related to his parody book, it’s a great concept on its own. Because of that, Monk losing of a loved one, his mother suffering from dementia and a strained relationship with his brother don’t seem needed and overstuffs the film with extra drama.

These moments aren’t necessarily bad, they’re just so tonally different than the rest of the movie, more appropriate in an average family drama than a cynical breakdown of portrayals of race in media. The good news is the movie reaches such a high level when focusing on Monk’s new book that it makes up for the lulls with his personal life.

Regardless if the film is centering on Monk’s professional or personal life,  there is definitely one constant. That is Wright’s sensational performance. He’s always been fantastic on screen, but this might be the best work he’s done in his career. Wright is masterful in showing how Monk is conflicted over what he’s doing creatively, his stress from dealing with family troubles and his strong sense of where writing as an art form should be going.

In fact, the cast overall is quite strong. John Ortiz as Monk’s agent Arthur, Issa Rae as a rival author, Leslie Uggams as Monk’s mother, Sterling K. Brown as his brother and Tracee Ellis Ross as his sister are all good on screen. That’s especially true with Ross, whose character has some great banter with Monk, which makes it all the more disappointing that she has very little screen time.

“American Fiction” has a lot of high highs thanks to its elite satirical writing and great lead performance from Jeffrey Wright, and the lows are never too low. When the movie moves toward the protagonist’s personal life, it becomes a more average drama, but never turns a viewer off. Its comedic punches really land and the overarching theme adds a topical richness. 4 out of 5.