The American Society of Magical Negroes

5/1/2024

I think that for satire to work, you have to be able to ensure that the audience is on board with the underlying premiss it's trying to achieve. Despite a decent effort from Justice Smith's "Aren" (and his impressive collection of knitwear) I just wasn't. Relying on long forgotten (if, indeed, they were ever actually known in the first place) tropes about racial stereotyping - and not just those from an African American point of view, makes this actually quite an offensive film to watch. Perhaps I am overthinking it, but I found absolutely nothing here with which I could relate - sarcastically or otherwise. The comedy, such as it is, is entirely contrived and the romantic elements between "Aren", "Lizzie" (An-Li Bogan) and "Jason" (Drew Tarver) are badly written and frequently cringe-makin

4/22/2025

<em>'The American Society of Magical Negroes'</em> is hit-and-miss. I wasn't disliking it all that much, though when the credits rolled I kinda didn't have anything majorly noteworthy to think about it. Like the score is genuinely ace and the cast are alright, but that's it. It's pretty forgettable (as a movie anyway, because that title isn't!), is what it boils down to. The well intentioned messaging comes across as a bit heavy-handed, as it only really dishes out pretty obvious sentiments. With that said, it can be a tad amusing (<em>'The Green Mile'</em> got a chuckle out of me, intentionally or otherwise) in short spells. David Alan Grier plays his role well though, he is an actor I like. Justice Smith is decent, I'm yet to overly like any performance of his but fine he is. An-Li