Movie Review | 'American Fiction' 

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Cord Jefferson's directorial and feature writing debut "American Fiction" is a strong calling card — sharp, insightful and carefully calibrated through a social lens, commenting on how Black culture is created and received in our society today. Like many other movies from 2023, "American Fiction" joins the ranks of bold first features.

One of the strongest aspects of "American Fiction" is as a vehicle for Jeffrey Wright (“Westworld,” “The French Dispatch,” 2022’s “The Batman”) to have a rare leading role and, in turn, give the best performance of his career. Wright has often operated in a supporting player lane, but he's front-and-center here as Thelonious "Monk" Ellison, an author and teacher, whose world-weary outlook on life doesn't coincide with how others see art and culture. He hasn't written a book in quite a few years. He has become disenchanted with the entire industry and what passes for good storytelling — people expect him to write a Black book, when he just wants to write a book. From Monk's point of view, books about Black people are told through stereotypes, especially in the case of a popular new book by Sintara Golden (Issa Rae).

Monk heads back home to Boston, where his sister, Lisa (Tracee Ellis Ross), has been taking care of their ailing mother (Leslie Uggams), while their younger brother Clifford (Sterling K. Brown) has been living his life as a newly out gay man. Their mother's dementia is starting to progress, which requires further care and more expenses, but Monk can't get a book sold. One night, he furiously writes a book called "My Pafology," which is intentionally riddled with clichés because that's what people want to read, but it’s so bad it will never sell. And then, well, his agent Arthur (John Ortiz) sure has a surprise for him.


"American Fiction" does what so many movies can't ever seem to get right, finding the sharp tone needed for satire. Much of what Monk observes about culture can be pointed at currently, specifically in terms of what kinds of stories certain artists are expected to create. Monk is horrified when he goes to a bookstore and sees his latest book is in the "African American Studies" section — he doesn't see his work as a Black book just because he is Black. The film explores how artists get put in boxes and are set with limitations, and how it has driven Monk to the edge.

Jefferson's screenplay is an interesting first outing because it's both consistently hilarious — especially watching the fallout of "My Pafology" — in its observations and dialogue, but it's very clearly structured by someone with a TV background (Jefferson previously wrote for “The Good Place” and “Watchmen,” among others). To that end, "American Fiction" is overstuffed with one too many plot points, and not all are given ample time to breathe; the most frustrating being Monk's relationship with Coraline (Erika Alexander), which is lovely in early scenes but doesn't feel totally fulfilled throughout the movie.

It’s evident Jefferson has many ideas and topics he wishes to address in “American Fiction,” but the episodic structure of the script does distract at times. Still, "American Fiction" is one of those movies that's so well done, it makes any flaws even more frustrating.

"American Fiction" is now playing in local theaters. The Little Theatre will host a special screening and discussion on Saturday,  January 13 at 7 p.m.

Matt Passantino is a contributing writer to CITY. Feedback about this article can be directed to [email protected].