This started out strong. The opening scene at the college is quickly engrossing and hilarious. Monk (Jeffrey Wright) then has to leave and we meet his sister, who is charming and funny. Meanwhile, encountering the writer of an extremely popular (but in Monk's mind, dumb and stereotypical) book sets us up for what's to come. Family tragedy and financial need then push Monk to do something crazy.

And that's where it goes off the rails. Somewhere between meeting a pretty neighbor and having a second date with her, Monk writes a novel. Not a treatment for a novel, not an outline - an entire novel. Sure, one that's supposed to be dumb and stereotypical like the super popular book he resents, but no one writes an entire novel in a couple of days. Not one they then send to their agent who also, in a day or two, manages to sell.

It was hard to accept anything that came after this, which only got sillier and less plausible anyway. Even in a comedy, there has to be some verisimilitude. "American Fiction" may have something important to say, it may have funny moments, but it becomes farce starting with such an utterly unrealistic premise and getting further absurd from there.

Why not have him start the book when he first encounters the popular writer? Why not have him send his agent the first few chapters of a work in progress? The double message here about stupid stuff being the most popular and white people using black stereotypes to assuage their guilt could have really meant something with just a little more of a credible premise.

Great scene between Wright and Issa Rae though.

6/10.