Having read some reviews I was pretty excited by "American Fiction" but it surpassed even my febrile expectations. It's the story of a black, American writer of quality who decides to go low-brow as a joke only to discover that this is his best selling effort yet. To say that he is perturbed is to put it mildly.

As the tale progresses Jeffrey Wright, as Thelonious "Monk" Ellison, keep raising the stakes to demonstrate how absurd it is that his stereotypical novel is being acclaimed. The funny thing is that he may or may not be right. Certainly another black author of books that he thinks that he despises (but hasn't read) ably defends her work and the amount of research required.

So while the film is very much poking fun at white, middle-class readers it isn't too particular on who it skewers. And yes I'm aware of the absurdity of an audience laughing at themselves being made to look foolish. Anyway the most appealing characters are those such as Monk's brother or his mother's housekeeper in that they are true to themselves and not looking to judge or be judged.

All in all "American Fiction" is both very funny and really quite moving. Even the smaller characters have depth and honestly none of the performances strike a bum note. This is a great debut from director Cord Jefferson and I can't wait to see what he does next.