There are a lot of things to like (or that have potential) in American Fiction. It features a strong cast-especially the lead-and is built upon an extremely interesting/entertaining satirical concept. The main problem it faces, however, is that the constant switching back and forth between intense family drama and farcical satire needed to either be better balanced or shifted from one camp to the other a bit more. As-is, the experience is odd/wearisome even if still watchable.

For a very basic overview, American Fiction tells the story of Thelonious "Monk" Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), a stoic/up-tight writer who wants the Black experience portrayed as more than the usual caricatures or stereotypes. When a new book comes out that panders to that lowest common denominator, Monk is as apoplectic as he is depressed. But with family/money issues on the mind, he (bit-by-bit) gets pulled into writing an "African-American vernacular" piece that-of course-absolutely blows up and causes some severe conflicts of interest.

As written by Percival Everett & Cord Jefferson (also the director), American Fiction is, on one hand, a pretty entertaining satire of Black representation in American culture. Maybe a little on the nose, but that is sort of the overall point of the entire piece. It is easy to laugh at what is transpiring while also reflecting upon how close it creeps to the truth.

On the other hand, American Fiction also wants to be a pretty intense family drama, dealing with weighty issues like depression, mental health (as it applies to aging), and sexual orientation. While these plot-points and themes are not poor by any stretch of the imagination, I'd argue that they take away from the power of the satirical elements. I never made the connection between the wildly different tones-either because I missed some of Jefferson's nuance or it simply wasn't present.

My favorite scene in this movie was seeing Wright go through a physical transformation-intellectual/academic to "street"-walking down a hallway. I wish American Fiction could have tapped into that sort of energy much more than it ultimately did. Because audiences are so used to seeing Wright as the buttoned-up serious actor, highlighting his ability to play any type of role (which is clearly present, even if only in spurts here) would have potentially done wonders.

As it stands, however, American Fiction left me feeling a little confused/hollow as to what the whole experience was all about. It is clearly well-produced and has a professional feel to it so I'd never call it a bad film, but I often felt its best potential qualities were somewhat marginalized in favor of plotlines that didn't seem to pay off in the endgame.