There's been quite a bit of pre-Oscar buzz about American Fiction, which on its surface is a film about a frustrated black American writer & professor named Thelonious "Monk" Ellison (Jeffery Wright) who decides to write a "ghetto" book (replete with hood vernacular) as a big F-U to the publishing world when his latest high-minded serious fiction fails to find a publisher. He then has to deal with the personal and professional fallout when his snarky joke book becomes a runaway success. When I first saw an overview of the movie, I was immediately reminded of Spike Lee's Bamboozled, in which a unsuccessful, frustrated black TV executive successfully pitches a sketch show where the actors perform in blackface. However, this isn't actually a great comparison.

In Bamboozled, Spike Lee hit us with quite a bit of finger pointing and "shame on you"-ing as he tried to make Americans reconcile with a past (and occasional present) where black entertainers are only allowed to be racist caricatures. There's real footage of Al Jolson and other early 20th century "minstrel show" entertainers spliced into the movie and the end result is mostly a depressing guilt trip. Like most of Spike's oeuvre, his aim is to entertain, get a few laughs here and there, and ultimately deliver his Big Message about race relations.

American Fiction's message as I took it, is less about race and more about the place of art and artists in 21st century, multi-national corporate subsidized entertainment. (It seems especially appropriate that the movie was published by MGM, whose long-time motto has been the Latin ars gratia artis, or, "art for art's sake") There's a hint right at the beginning of the movie when Monk is teaching a university class about literature and has written the n-word on the whiteboard at the front of the class. He has a heated debate with one of his students about how much she dislikes the word to which Monk replies, "I got over it, so I think you can too." Indeed, American Fiction doesn't actually do much hand wringing, finger pointing, or tear shedding about race and prefers instead to focus on intra-family dynamics and how art makes its way to modern audiences.

The scenes that truly get at the heart of the film's message come when Monk is touring a decent, but not luxurious care home for his mother (Leslie Uggams) whose ability to care for herself is being rapidly destroyed by newly diagnosed Alzheimer's Disease. When one of the care home's managers tells Monk that the cost is $5600 a month, what choice does he have other than to ride his sell-out success to the finish line when the cost of even basic care is equal to a mortgage payment? His family counts 2 doctors in its ranks and once upon a time, a large middle-class family with two doctors in it would have no problem covering the cost of care for a senile matriarch. In inflation-ravaged 21st century America however, this isn't the case. As much as it pains Monk's pride and his mission as an artist with important things to say, family comes first, so he must continue to sell out to the highest bidder.

Besides its nuanced messages about art, capitalism, and audience taste, American Fiction is actually a comedy at its core. Most of the film's laughs come from Jeffery Wright's pained facial expressions, his attempts to portray himself as a "hard" black man from the streets for his joke book's credibility, and his increasingly outrageous, "I can't believe they think this trash is good writing" suggestions when he's dealing with book publishers and Hollywood producers. It is a genuinely funny movie. For this alone, I am grateful that it exists. Good comedy is rare, and good comedy that also has important messages about art, family, and capitalism even more so.

It's not a perfect movie by any means - the ultimate ending is darkly comic, but it tries to be a bit too cute with the 4th wall & narrative on its way there. And while this is very minor and nit-picky, for a movie set in and around Boston, they don't really attempt to capture the nuances of accent, language, and demeanour for the region. This is a family from Anytown, USA that just so happens to be set in Boston and Cape Cod.

If you're expecting a movie that preaches and pontificates about race and the modern black condition in America, this is not it. But it is hilarious, literary, well-paced, well-acted, and massively entertaining. So go see it.