AMERICAN FICTION

AMERICAN FICTION is a satire about an unsuccessful intellectual black novelist who’s upset about the huge popularity of novels by black authors with titles like “We’s Lives in Da Ghetto,” decides to write an anonymous novel like that to mock the trend, and is not surprised but secretly overjoyed when publishers are clamoring to buy the new book. AMERICAN FICTION has many hilarious moments and an excellent performance by Jeffrey Wright, but it contains way too much off-putting foul language, strong pro-homosexual content, an excessively violent fantasy scene, and a politically correct scene that seems a bit woke.

Jeffrey Wright plays Thelonious “Monk” Ellison. Monk is a fastidious black college professor who writes unsuccessful, “serious” intellectual novels. However, no one is interested in buying his latest magnum opus. Monk is also upset that bookstores display his novels in the African American Studies section instead of the Fiction section. Monk becomes even more angry when he goes to hear a popular black female novelist, Sinatra Golden, read from her latest bestseller, “We’s Lives in Da Ghetto.”

So, in a fit of intellectual rage, Monk dashes off a novel in the same style titled “My Pafology,” written by a fictional street gangster named Stagg R. Leigh, who can’t reveal his identity because he’s still wanted by police. Of course, Monk isn’t surprised to find that publishers are clamoring to buy his book, but he is disgusted and, truth be told, secretly delighted by all the money and notoriety being tossed his way.

Things get too real for him, however, when his fake novel is being considered for a literary prize and Monk is hired to be one of the five judges.

Meanwhile, Monk starts to woo a widower who’s moved in across the street from his family’s beach house. He’s also trying to deal with problems from his sister’s sudden recent death because his sister was the one taking care of their elderly mother, whose dementia is getting worse. Monk is also upset that his younger homosexual brother from the West Coast isn’t offering much help.

AMERICAN FICTION has many hilarious moments and some touching scenes. It also contains some pungent satire of the low quality of black street culture that too many Americans, especially liberals and leftists, including allegedly guilt-ridden, woke white people, like to excuse and promote. Also, Jeffrey Wright delivers a marvelous performance as Monk.

Sadly, however, AMERICAN FICTION contains way too much off-putting foul language. There’s also some strong pro-homosexual content about the title character, Monk’s, homosexual brother, who brings two annoying friends to the family’s small beach house. (SPOILER FOLLOWS) Also, it undermines the moral, conservative truth of its premise with a slightly politically correct scene. In that scene, Monk seems to agree eventually with the female author when she defends her book. He also blames white people for publishing such books rather than the black authors who write them. The scene comes across a bit woke, in a blame whitey sort of way.