There have been some memorable directorial debuts this year and surely this is one that I won’t easily forget. What sold me initially was Jeffrey Wright’s casting, the kind of actor who never fails to deliver a solid performance. He plays novelist Thelonious ‘Monk’ Ellison, easily the winner of ‘best character name’ ever, who’s recently lost his teaching job at a New England university because of a heated confrontation with a student involving a racially-charged short story by Flannery O’Connor. To make matters worse, Monk is informed by his literary agent Arthur (John Ortiz) that his highbrow academic book isn’t selling because readers want a ‘Black’ book. ‘They have a Black book. I’m Black, and it’s my book’ Monk pushes back with a vexed look on his face.

At a Boston book festival, Monk attends an interview with author Sintara Golden (Issa Rae) who’s celebrated for her best-selling ‘Black’ book that tells stereotypical black stories of impoverished, uneducated black folks. Monk was aghast and exasperated that there was such a huge audience for such an offensive racial caricature. When he gets invited to be a literary jury, he’s even more flabbergasted that a book titled We’s Lives in Da Ghetto not only finds a huge audience but is highly revered by the mostly-white literary jury. As he retreats to his family’s beach house, he comes up with an idea to write a preposterous ‘Black’ book on his own, filled with trauma porn and language of the gutter (as Monk describes it). Under a pseudonym Stagg R. Leigh, Monk calls it My Pafology.

I think everyone would agree that writing satire is tricky, so it’s quite a feat that Cord Jefferson can tackle it in his first-ever feature film. I read that the idea of adopting Percival Everett’s 2001 novel Erasure came to Jefferson just a few months after he got a note on his script that he needed to make a character ‘Blacker.’ It’s no surprise that the movie feels at times incredulous but also personal, and Jefferson’s script constantly fires at all cylinders. He intentionally places his characters in disconcerting situations but yet somehow still able to make the scenes funny.

The imaginary scene between Monk and his characters of a deadbeat dad fighting with a gun-toting rapper in ‘Wife Beater’ top (with Keith David playing a hilarious cameo) is funny but also uncomfortable. It’s played for laughs but I can’t help but cringe at just how harmful those stereotypes are. The conversation between Monk and the two white publishing executives interested in Monk’s ‘ghetto’ novel is as hilarious as it is punchy, poking fun at the veiled racism and bigotry that continues in our society today. They’re only interested in Monk if he fits the mold of a ‘legit’ Black dude who’s lived a hard life with a violent past, thus Monk has to pretend that Leigh is a murderous fugitive.

I appreciate that Jefferson doesn’t give as a flawless protagonist who aims to teach us a lesson about issues of Blackness in American culture. It’s also a character study of Monk himself who’s got plenty of issues of his own. He isn’t always the best son to his mother (Leslie Uggams) who struggles with dementia, nor the most supportive brother to Cliff (Sterling K. Brown) who just recently came out as gay. Monk is clearly plagued by self-delusions in the way that he refuses to admit that race plays any part in his life. Even Arthur pokes fun at his lack of ‘street cred’ – ‘That’s street? Yeah more like Sesame Street!’ when Monk shows up looking too refined to pass as convicted felon Leigh.

The performances are ace all around, starting with the consistently brilliant Wright in a career-best performance. He’s consistently brilliant in everything but he’s never made me laugh as much as he did here! I can’t believe the man hasn’t been nominated for an Academy Award, well this has got to be his year! Brown ought to nab a nomination as well in the Best Supporting Category, he absolutely lets it rip (not to mention looking phenomenally ripped) in this role, and it’s fun to see him display his versatility and comedic chops! Ortiz is pretty memorable as well here as Monk’s agent, their scenes together are wonderfully comedic. Last but definitely not least, I have to give a shout-out to Erika Alexander as Coraline, a recently divorced attorney who asks Monk out. Smart, successful, and sophisticated, she’s the antithesis of the Blackness version often depicted by the publishing industry.

My Pafology propels Monk to the heart of the madness that infuriates him in the first place. ‘The dumber I behave, the richer I get!’ Monk laments as he finally finds the success he’s always dreamed of thanks to his fake book. The parody elements get over the top at times, especially in the scenes involving Adam Brody as a hotshot Hollywood producer who wants to milk My Pafology for his own awards glory. If you haven’t seen the trailer, then don’t, as there’s a spoiler-y piece there that I wish I hadn’t seen.

Overall though, American Fiction is a biting satire that’s thoroughly engaging and as multidimensional as its characters. It’s also one of the funniest movies of the year, using humor in a refreshingly frank and astute way without being overly heavy-handed. It’s easily one of the shrewdly-written scripts of the year, with a fantastic lead performance from Wright that makes me wish he’s given more starring roles. If there is only one movie you can watch in the theater this holiday season, this one will be well worth your while.

Have you seen AMERICAN FICTION? I’d love to hear what you think!

///