Genre : Comedy / Drama / Satire

Runtime : 1hr 57min

Language : English

IMDb : 7.5/10

Rotten Tomatoes : 93%

Letterboxd : 3.7/5

Metacritic : 81%

Wikipedia : Link

Director : Cord Jefferson

Cast

effrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae, Sterling K. Brown, John Ortiz, Erika Alexander

Plot

American Fiction follows Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), a successful African-American novelist and academic who is bitterly disillusioned by how the publishing industry rewards and profits from works by Black writers that reinforce clichés and stereotypes. After years of rejecting assignments and feeling alienated from both mainstream and Black literary circles, Monk writes a provocative, hyper-satirical “Black” crime novel under a pseudonym. To his surprise and dismay, the book—which was intended as critique—becomes commercially successful and critically praised, thrusting him into a spotlight he had hoped to mock. Simultaneously, Monk’s personal life is strained: his relationship with his family becomes more complex, especially with his mother, sister, and his sense of self. The film oscillates between sharp satire and personal introspection as Monk is forced to reckon with his own complicity in demand for stereotypical stories, the cost of authenticity, and the sometimes absurd contradictions in what the world expects from Black artists. It questions who gets to control narrative, what is considered “authentic,” and whether biting critique can coexist with success.