Wright is very good, but look out for that Sterling K Brown, he's going places. The whole cast is wonderful; extra kudos to Uggams and Taylor, who have roles that could lean more into melodrama and then don't go too far into tipping the scales for the tone the filmmakers want to have as a more subtle/natural feeling film.
American Fiction is a fun, knowing and cutting satire of stereotypes and cultural identity (both of macro and micro), though if it seems like this is even more of a commentary on tropes that were more prevalent or pervasive in the 1990s, it's no accident as the book "Erasure" this is based off of was released in 01 - not that gangbanger or slave narratives ever went fully away, but the dynamics have shifted a *little* in the thirty years since Boyz n the Hood and so on. And there's never a comedic scene that doesn't hit somewhat - Adam Brody is a scene stealer as an example, and you can never go wrong with RBG art in the background to communicate all we need to know about a particular brand of white liberal - but it actually works better as a tale of familial dysfunction and grief and trauma.
My wife made a great point after we left that a point in the film's favor is that the way Monk is comes more from his parentage and upbringing than from his own defects (and the mother and brother and for the short time shes in the film the sister are all drawn with good dimensions and empathy dialog), even as he brings all of his problems on himself in his big goof of a move to make a point (which, naturally, is taken the wrong way by everyone... except Issa Rae, who calls out how phony and half hearted the book is), and his stubbornness to keep the lie going.
It's a very good film because it is about the thing you think it is going in - racial appropriation, how Whites see Black's vs how Blacks sees Blacks (and, though brief, how a woman is judged differently than a man) - but it's also about things that are more universal, like the harm in thinking you are superior to others because of X or Y or Z, or (on a more emotional/feelings level) not seeing when other people... like or even love you and not thinking you're worthy of that.
Two critiques: the ending having those multiple Wayne's World type "Let's do the mega happy/violent" ending has a decent punchline, but cutting to black and coming up on the film shoot is a little of a cheat. And on a lessor note, one thing I would've liked a little more of were seeing a couple other scenes from the book "Stag R. Leigh" writes (or an idea of what Monk's "Blue Label" books are like conversely), albeit that's mostly because it would mean more Keith David and you can never get enough of him.
American Fiction is a fun, knowing and cutting satire of stereotypes and cultural identity (both of macro and micro), though if it seems like this is even more of a commentary on tropes that were more prevalent or pervasive in the 1990s, it's no accident as the book "Erasure" this is based off of was released in 01 - not that gangbanger or slave narratives ever went fully away, but the dynamics have shifted a *little* in the thirty years since Boyz n the Hood and so on. And there's never a comedic scene that doesn't hit somewhat - Adam Brody is a scene stealer as an example, and you can never go wrong with RBG art in the background to communicate all we need to know about a particular brand of white liberal - but it actually works better as a tale of familial dysfunction and grief and trauma.
My wife made a great point after we left that a point in the film's favor is that the way Monk is comes more from his parentage and upbringing than from his own defects (and the mother and brother and for the short time shes in the film the sister are all drawn with good dimensions and empathy dialog), even as he brings all of his problems on himself in his big goof of a move to make a point (which, naturally, is taken the wrong way by everyone... except Issa Rae, who calls out how phony and half hearted the book is), and his stubbornness to keep the lie going.
It's a very good film because it is about the thing you think it is going in - racial appropriation, how Whites see Black's vs how Blacks sees Blacks (and, though brief, how a woman is judged differently than a man) - but it's also about things that are more universal, like the harm in thinking you are superior to others because of X or Y or Z, or (on a more emotional/feelings level) not seeing when other people... like or even love you and not thinking you're worthy of that.
Two critiques: the ending having those multiple Wayne's World type "Let's do the mega happy/violent" ending has a decent punchline, but cutting to black and coming up on the film shoot is a little of a cheat. And on a lessor note, one thing I would've liked a little more of were seeing a couple other scenes from the book "Stag R. Leigh" writes (or an idea of what Monk's "Blue Label" books are like conversely), albeit that's mostly because it would mean more Keith David and you can never get enough of him.