AMERICAN FICTION movie poster | ©2023 MGM/Orion/Amazon

Rating: R
Stars: Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae, Sterling K. Brown, John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Miriam Shor, Adam Brody, Keith David, Okieriete Onaodowan
Writer: Cord Jefferson, based on the novel ERASURE by Percival Everett
Director: Cord Jefferson
Distributor: MGM/Orion/Amazon
Release Date: December 15, 2023

AMERICAN FICTION tackles some tangled subject matter with admirable wit and restraint. Based on the book ERASURE by Percival Everett, AMERICAN FICTION examines who gets to write what, why they write it, and how it’s decided what gets marketed. There are also a lot of family dynamics at play, running on parallel lines with the other plot.

Directed and scripted by Cord Jefferson, AMERICAN FICTION introduces us to college professor and novelist Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright). Monk is becoming more and more exasperated by his students, especially white ones who think they know better thank Monk does what he, as a Black man, ought to find offensive.

What Monk actually does find offensive is that his novels are shelved at bookstores in the category of Black Studies simply because he is Black, even though the subject matter has nothing to do with race. (From what we can tell, he writes updated retellings of stories by the ancient Greeks.)

Of course, Monk is also unhappy that his books aren’t widely read, while what he calls “Black trauma porn” makes the bestseller lists. One night, a little tipsy, Monk embarks on a novel he initially titles MY PATHOLOGY, soon revised to MY PAFOLOGY (and ultimately changed to something else altogether), under the pseudonym of Stagg R. Leigh.

MY PAFOLOGY is full of the epitome of Black stereotypes, with violence, crime, poverty, drugs, and self-loathing at every turn. We see a confrontation scene from the book acted out in front of Monk by two of his characters (played by Keith David and Okieriete Onaodowan), both of whom have questions for their author.

This isn’t the trope of “Hey, I know what I’ll do for money – write a bestseller.” It’s so extreme that Monk’s agent Arthur (Jon Ortiz) doesn’t even want to send it out, except maybe as performance art.

But Monk doesn’t expect MY PAFOLOGY to be published – he just wants the publishers to ask themselves how this obviously absurd manuscript is so different from what they’re foisting on the public as “authentically Black voices” and just maybe shame them into a little bit of change.

From Monk and Arthur’s reactions to what happens next, we can guess they’ve never seen THE PRODUCERS.

Meanwhile, Monk is enveloped in filial and sibling issues. He has a prickly but loving relationship with his sister Lisa (Tracee Ellis Ross). Lisa, a doctor, would like Monk to take some responsibility for dealing with their ailing mother Agnes (Leslie Uggams). Monk has parked himself at the other end of the country, partly to avoid exactly this matter.

Then there’s younger brother Clifford (Sterling K. Brown), who also refuses to deal with Mom, but Lisa excuses his absence in ways that irk Monk.

There’s also Mom’s attractive neighbor Coraline (Erika Alexander), who is open to a relationship with Monk – if he’ll just open up to her.

Debuting director Jefferson handles all of this with a wry, deft touch. We never feel like we’re being hit over the head, even when the craziness of the book business (eventually expanding to Hollywood) cranks up to full tilt.

It helps immeasurably that Wright is able to juggle all of the many aspects of Monk’s personality so well. We feel for him at the same time that we understand why even those who love him can find him pompous. His incredulity is perfectly pitched and priceless.

The more human drama also registers gently and effectively. Aspects of what is happening among the Ellisons will be recognizable to pretty much everyone. Filmmaker Jefferson is empathetic but not emphatic.

Finally, AMERICAN FICTION pulls of a rare have-cake-and-eat-it-too climax that cleverly and admirably sums up all that has preceded it. It’s a movie with a lot to say that is also a lot of intelligent fun.

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