Through entertainment, American audiences have become accustomed to 3 types of stories about African-Americans: either they’re slaves, Civil rights fighters, or super poor, pregnant, drug dealers/criminals. I’m not black, but I would continuously be pissed/disappointed that Green Book keeps winning Oscars while BlackKklansman from the same year gets overlooked. Thankfully, a smart, entertaining generation of black creators knows this too, and has slowly been adding new, overdue perspective and stories to these stereotypical 3. Cord Jefferson is one of those gifted storytellers, and his American Fiction wonderfully takes this struggle and really puts it out there for the world to understand, with humorous, potent results.
The star of American Fiction is Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), a university professor and novelist. After making his white students “uncomfortable” with a debate on race, the school makes him take a leave of absence to finish his latest novel and catch up with family. He heads to New England, where his mom Agnes (Leslie Uggams) is slowly succumbing to dementia, and Monk’s sister Lisa (Tracee Ellis-Ross) is tired of carrying the day-to-day burden on her own. Frustrated with his new responsibilities and new hotshot writer Sintara Golden (Issa Rae) winning over audiences with a story of pregnant drug dealing black people, Monk pens a story like Sintara’s, mocking how easy and lazy it is to come up with a story like that. But surprise surprise, Monk’s publisher Arthur (John Ortiz) tells Thelonious that his book, “My Pafology” started a bidding war, and is set to become a bestseller as soon as it’s distributed.
It’s pretty amazing what Cord Jefferson pulls off here. Half of this movie is just a wonderful evisceration of the Hollywood machine, taking all these white directors, publishers, etc and using this icky coded language talking about how “real” “honest” and “important” Stagg R. Lee‘s (Monk’s hilarious pseudonym) book is “necessary right now.” It’s made even more funny by Jeffrey Wright, who gets more incredulous and exasperated at just how tone deaf and stupid all of these entertainment executives are. Stagg R. Lee’s “thug life” brazenness only gets met with raucous approval from the white gatekeepers, further irritating Monk. This all leads to a hilarious climax at a book award ceremony, thoroughly dressing down woke white directors (a wonderfully condescending Adam Brody) trying to connect with black audiences.
After laughing at all that white noise (you’re welcome), Jefferson immerses us in Monk’s real life. And that story is the fascinating one. Jefferson gives us a glimpse into a host of complex, interesting black characters, with interior lives and diverse motivations. Monk’s sister Lisa is one of those pragmatic truthtellers that calls her brother on his erudite bullsh*t, which he resents and appreciates in equal measure. Their younger brother Cliff (Sterling K. Brown) has just moved to Arizona to get away and start fresh after an emotionally messy divorce, involving his sexuality. Monk also starts up a relationship with Coraline (Erika Alexander), an empty nester excited to talk to someone on her intellectual level. Hell, even the Ellison family caretaker Lorraine (Myra Lucretia Taylor) is given a sweet romantic subplot. Cord Jefferson’s dialogue ties this all together, lyrically weaving the two stories together with a sure hand. He turns the tables, giving each of these complex African-American characters chances to tell their own stories about their own worthy interior lives, while stereotyping all the token white people, with delicious aplomb.
When bending the moral arc of the universe towards justice like MLK said, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun too. Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction is definitely bending, but you’re laughing so much you barely notice. Also, why isn’t Jeffrey Wright getting juicy roles like this all the time? He’s always gonna make your movie better because he’s in it.