I feel like the organization in this movie was the JV version of The Brotherhood from “Undercover Brother.”
Justice Smith stars in this film as Aren, an artist who focuses on sculpture creations, mostly out of yarn. Unfortunately, Aren’s career hasn’t taken off, and his latest attempt at showing his work at a gallery ends in failure.
However, after the event, Aren meets a man named Roger (David Alan Grier), a member of the American Society of Magical Negroes who wants the struggling artist to join. The organization assigns African Americans to assist white people and make them more comfortable around people of color. Aren joins, but his first assignment gets complicated because of a love interest.
In 2019, a film was released called “Yesterday,” which followed a character who woke up one morning to find that he now lives in a world where The Beatles never existed. Being a musician, he decides to use this fact to play music by the band and claim the songs as his own.
It’s an interesting premise, but unfortunately, it was never fully explored because the picture put too much of its focus on a generic romance. The exact same thing is true with this film five years later.
This is a film with a fascinating concept, with the potential to explore race and African American roles in media, all while doing so with a bit of levity thanks to the magical aspect. Sadly, the film gets so bogged down by a simple romantic plot that sinks any attempt at this movie being a deeper experience.
The picture is at its best when it’s at the society’s headquarters during some of the training for new members. There are a few fine gags satirizing popular films and stories that use the magical negro trope, and they manage to elicit laughs.
Once the movie gets to focusing on Aren’s mission, which is a supportive friendship with an office worker named Jason (Drew Tarver), it loses all momentum. See, as part of that friendship, Aren is supposed to encourage Jason in all endeavors, including pairing him with co-worker Lizzie (An-Li Bogan). But it’s complicated because Aren also has a thing for Lizzie.
The problem with this is two-fold. No. 1, the relationship building between Aren and Lizzie feels far too by-the-books and also rather convenient. They’re too perfect of a match together. It’s just not that interesting or endearing to watch their romance bloom.
The second issue is even bigger, though. It’s that the love triangle and its relation to Aren’s mission lacks any nuance or complexity. That’s because from the very beginning, Jason is made to come across as an unlikable dudebro with no empathetic awareness.
The character is set up from the start to just be awful, making it easy for Aren and Lizzie to grow close without any conflicting feelings, and for him to start thinking differently about the society. It just really comes across as a cop-out.
If a romance had to be shoved in this movie, wouldn’t it be much more distinct to have Jason be an actual good person? Someone Aren actually becomes a close friend to, so he finds himself in an actual dilemma about his relationship with Lizzie? This could still impact his mission with Jason, too, as he would still be representative of Silicon Valley being a very white space.
Instead, by making Jason such a blatant douche of a character, it gives Aren something of a simple out. It comes in the form of an extended monologue near the climax that’s really similar to the one in last year’s “Barbie,” except that movie was actually fun.
It all comes across as very surface level, and that’s not entirely surprising. This was the first project ever directed by Kobi Libii, and just his second ever writing credit, the first coming with the news-comedy series “Klepper.” The lack of experience is reflected in the movie, which often looks flat and isn’t all that well paced. Plus, the finale raises internal consistency with the society.
One really wishes the material was better because there’s some talent in the cast. However, the characters they play are never really that compelling or endearing. It’s also clear that Libii had something he really wanted to say, but the execution in saying it leaves a lot to be desired.
It’s like there’s a better movie buried in here, but the team in front of and behind the camera weren’t able to reach it. 1.5 out of 5.
Matthew Liedke on Film 