Opened: December 15, 2023

Directed by: Cord Jefferson

Starring: 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

Though the comedy the trailer shows isn’t as sustaining as you think it’ll be and the ending is unsatisfying, American Fiction is a brilliant piece of satirical commentary on modern depictions of race.

Author Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) returns home to help care for his aging mother (Leslie Uggams). When new author Sintara Golden’s (Issa Rae) stereotypically black novel We’s Lives In Da Ghetto becomes popular, Monk has an idea to play with the system.

Monk writing a book as a joke just to have it become a bestseller perfectly encapsulates how white audiences want to absorb black culture but don’t care about their actual interactions with black people. The comedy there is bitingly funny.

The ensemble cast is fantastic, but it’s Sterling K. Brown as Monk’s irresponsible, recently out-of-the-closet brother Cliff that steals scenes.

Final say: Fictional success. ★★★★☆