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With: Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae, Sterling K. Brown, John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Adam Brody, Keith David, Okieriete Onaodowan, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Raymond Anthony Thomas, Miriam Shor, Michael Cyril Creighton, J. C. MacKenzie, Patrick Fischler, Ryan Richard Doyle
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Written by: Cord Jefferson, based on a novel by Percival Everett
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Directed by: Cord Jefferson
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MPAA Rating: R for language throughout, some drug use, sexual references and brief violence
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Running Time: 117
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Date: 12/22/2023
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Novel Idea
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Based on a novel by Percival Everett and written and directed by Cord Jefferson, American Fiction is as effective a satire as they come (although I'm not sure we really needed yet another movie with "American" in the title). The great Jeffrey Wright finally has a worthy leading role as Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison, an author and professor whose intellectual books arrive after long intervals and don't exactly sell like hotcakes. He's bitter, but funny and rooted in relatable pain. Frustrated by the success of writers like Sintara Golden (Issa Rae) — whose pandering books about the "Black experience" appeal to liberal Whites — he decides to write his own book full of gutter language and painful stereotypes. Intended merely as a gesture, it, of course, rockets its author (under the pseudonym Stagg R. Leigh) to success and fame. It so happens that Monk needs the money, as his sister Lisa (Tracee Ellis Ross), who took on the role of caretaker for the family, suddenly dies, leaving him in charge of their ailing mother (Leslie Uggams). (Their brother, Clifford, beautifully played by Sterling K. Brown, is a useless playboy.) Erika Alexander (Earth Mama) plays a neighbor woman who manages to meet cute with Monk while all this is going on. American Fiction works by keeping the satire sharp, but giving it a genuine humanity.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment's Blu-ray release is disappointingly bare-bones. There's not a single bonus here, not even a trailer. (No DVD version was released either.) A digital copy is available, and the video transfer and audio track are fine. Either way, the film is still very much worth seeking out. Recommended.
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