Thelonious "Monk" Ellison is a highly intelligent African-American upper-class writer and professor in Los Angeles. While his novels receive academic praise, they sell poorly, and publishers reject his latest manuscript for not being "Black enough". His university places him on temporary leave due to his brashness with students over racial issues and suggests he attend a literary seminar and spend time with family in his hometown of Boston. At the seminar, his panel is poorly attended, in contrast to a packed room for an interview with Sintara Golden, whose bestselling novel We's Lives in Da Ghetto panders to Black stereotypes.
In Boston, Monk has dinner with his mother Agnes, who has Alzheimer's disease, and sister Lisa, a physician. While having drinks with Monk, Lisa suffers a fatal heart attack. Their estranged brother, Cliff, a plastic surgeon, attends Lisa's funeral. Cliff is divorced after his wife caught him having sex with a man; he now engages in frequent drug use and casual sex. Monk meets and starts dating Coraline, a lawyer living across the street from his mother's beach house.
Frustrated by Sintara's success and the costs of care for his mother, Monk writes My Pafology, a satirical novel mocking the literary stereotypes expected from Black writers: melodramatic plots, deadbeat dads, gang violence, and drugs. After submitting it to publishers out of contempt, he is shocked to be offered a $750,000 advance, and his agent Arthur convinces him to adopt the persona of convict on the run "Stagg R. Leigh". As "Stagg", Monk is offered a movie deal from a producer, Wiley. In response to publishing executives' insulting comments, Monk tries to sabotage the deal by demanding the title be changed to Fuck; the executives agree. Monk is invited to help judge the New England Book Association's Literary Award as part of a "diversity push", and he reluctantly accepts. A fellow judge is Sintara, and Monk learns that she shares many of his views.
Agnes moves into an expensive assisted-living facility, but adapts poorly. Cliff briefly returns to Boston, but leaves after Agnes makes a homophobic remark. Fuck becomes a bestseller. Coraline, Cliff, and the public remain unaware that "Stagg" is Monk, and the FBI contacts the publisher, believing Stagg is a fugitive, as he claimed in interviews.
Monk's publisher submits Fuck for the Literary Award, forcing him to judge his own novel. Monk learns that Coraline enjoyed reading Fuck; they argue and break up. The panel's white judges rave over Fuck, though Sintara calls it "pandering". Monk agrees, but later argues that Sintara's book is "trauma porn" and inauthentic to her African-American middle-class background. Sintara argues that she researched her book by interviewing voiceless people, was "giving the market what it wants", and that it is not her fault if white readers formed stereotypes from her book.
On family housekeeper Lorraine's wedding day, Monk finds Cliff living in Agnes's beach house with two other men, but Lorraine is happy to have him attend the wedding. At the reception, Monk and Cliff discuss the impact of their father's suicide, and Cliff encourages Monk to let people "love all of him".
At the awards ceremony, Fuck is announced as the winner. Monk goes onstage and says he has a confession to make. The film cuts to black, and the events shown are revealed to have been Monk's screenplay based on his experiences, written for Wiley's production company as an alternative to the Fuck film adaptation. Monk has not revealed his identity to the public and is still separated from Coraline. Wiley likes the screenplay but asks Monk to change the ambiguous ending.
Monk proposes an ending with him running away from the ceremony to apologize to Coraline, but Wiley says it feels too much like a romantic comedy. Monk then suggests one where police, believing Monk to be a wanted criminal holding a gun, fatally shoot him at the ceremony. Much to Monk's dismay, Wiley, who is also filming a blaxploitation film called Plantation Annihilation, loves it, and the film moves into production. Monk drives away with Cliff after he and one of Wiley's actors, playing a slave, acknowledge each other.
American Fiction premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2023, where it won the People's Choice Award.[10][12] This was followed by a run in the festival circuit, culminating in its United States premiere at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles on December 5, 2023.[13] It had a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 15, 2023, with an expansion the following week (December 22, 2023).[14] The film was initially set for a November 3, 2023 release date before changing to its current date.[15] The film was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Curzon Film on February 2, 2024.[16]
As of March13,2024[update], American Fiction has grossed $21.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $1.9 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $23 million.[3][4]
The film made $229,000 from seven theaters in its opening weekend, a per-venue average of $32,400.[18] Following its five Oscar nominations, the film expanded from 852 theaters to 1,702 in its 7th week of release and made $2.9 million, an increase of 65% from the previous weekend, and a running total of $11.8 million.[19] The following weekend it made $2.4 million.[20]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 282 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.2/10.The website's consensus reads: "Jeffrey Wright and American Fiction will forever be inextricable thanks to the actor's committed approach to the pointedly humorous and insightful material."[21]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 81 out of 100, based on 54 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[22] Audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film a 90% positive score, with 83% saying they would definitely recommend it.[18]
In her review for The Hollywood Reporter, Lovia Gyarke wrote that "American Fiction is smart and, thanks to its fine cast, has genuine heart", commending Wright's "subtle physicality … that contributes depth to his character", as well as "Uggams' increasingly somber performance as Agnes and Brown’s delightful comedic turn".[23] Peter Debruge for Variety, applauded Jefferson's writing prowess, likening him to Flannery O’Connor and Toni Morrison, whose works were both referenced in the film. To Deburge, Jefferson "trusts his audience to bring themselves to the material", which is "what makes reading "American Fiction" so rewarding."[24] Peyton Robinson writing for RogerEbert.com highlighted Jefferson's writing as the key takeaway from this film, stating that his "attentive lens" to the film's "concept and themes is what will be remembered". Robinson goes on to identify the distinguishable legacy within the script, emphasizing Jefferson's "sharply pointed finger at the many institutional factors that keep [Black art], and its creators, restrained."[25]
Sarah Lyall of The New York Times covered Jeffrey Wright in a feature about his career and his role in American Fiction, claiming that Wright's "exquisitely calibrated" performance demonstrates "[Wright's] ability to elevate any movie or TV show simply by appearing in it." Lyall goes on to celebrate that Wright "has a way of burrowing so deeply into his characters that he seems almost to be hiding in plain sight."[26] Stephanie Zacharek at Time magazine also highlighted the lead star's performance, admiring that "Wright brings it all to life". Zacharek notes that Wright does so "not with thunderous, statement-making gestures, but with small ones that remind us how vulnerable Monk is", even amidst the protagonist's "own raging intelligence".[27]
Filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood praised writer-director Cord Jefferson, stating that an artist's first work should tell the world who they are and Jefferson "has screamed into a bullhorn. Bold, chaotic, unflinching, personal. Cord has channeled his creative truths into a searing indictment of biased norms."[28]
Accolades
The American Film Institute placed American Fiction as one of its top 10 films of 2023, praising Jefferson's writing as "the arrival of a powerful voice in American film", Wright's "triumphant" performance, and the ensemble cast.[29]
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