Directed By Kobi Libii
Starring – Justice Smith, David Alan Grier, An-Li Bogan
The Plot – A young man named Aren (Smith), is recruited into a secret society of magical Black people who dedicate their lives to a cause of utmost importance: making white people’s lives easier.
Rated PG-13 for some strong adult language, suggestive material and thematic material.
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGICAL NEGROES | Official Trailer (youtube.com)
POSITIVES
Unquestionably, the film is at its most ambitious and original when tapping into the makings and world-building of this mystical force that creatively stems from the trope in cinema, television and literature, in which a black character constantly comes to the aid of white protagonists. This is when the film does feel realized in the depths of its comedic genre of stamping, complete with clever insights about social media, politics, and even tragedy that attain a deeper significance as conflicts in question to this secret group, but beyond that rules to the proceedings that help us grasp a meaningful sense of history to their long-standing influence, with Aren obviously serving as the eyes and ears of the audience who face this eye-opening reality head-on. Smith’s vulnerability factor here simply can’t be underappreciated, not only because of the fish out of water circumstance that brought back shades of Will Smith walking into the Men In Black organization, but also in utilizing the underlining tragedy of his everyday circumstance, in which he must put white wants and needs before his very own, all in the need to service a job requirement, which seems to have finally supplanted prominence to his otherwise floundering wealth and notoriety. Because of such, Aren is played wonderfully by Smith, who even despite the monotonous deliveries that we’ve come to expect in his diaphragm, does wield an abundance of personality to the performance that makes him easily investing, despite rushed characterization during the initial moments that could’ve doomed him on site. Smith isn’t given the greatest material in the world to work with, but his caustically dry deliveries and sudden realizations supplant humanity to a film that is constantly riddled in parody, all the while offering a few moments of dramatic release that summarize the frustration of Aren’s lifetime of experiences with race relations, which come full circle at the risk of losing the one person who puts it all into perspective. For that, I am talking about “After Yang’s” An-Li Bogan, who shares the kind of meaningfully evolving chemistry with Smith that does take the story miles, all while enriching matters with a warm smile and earnest gentility that were refreshing in the contrast of so many selfish characters without a shred of awareness between them. It was also great to see Grier getting the front-and-center shine that has sadly and unfortunately evaded the majority of his career, with a fatherly framing of sorts towards Aren that drives much of the film’s focus. Grier seamlessly proves to be funny when he needs to, but the regretful essence to his character’s past brandishes an element of dramatic heft to his deliveries that I honestly didn’t think he had in him, considering my time with him began on the iconic 90’s sketch comedy show, “In Living Color”. Also adding to the experience was smoothly free-flowing pacing that helped to resolve some of the sloppiness to the film’s structure, especially in the opening act, which wastes little to no time setting up the primary conflict and aforementioned group that changes everything for Aren on that one life-changing night. This does come at the cost of characterization, in that we spend little to no time with Aren while outlining the motivation of his need to join the group, however I emphatically appreciated that it’s a story that constantly keeps moving, especially since the comedic material falls flat more often than not, which could’ve led to an immediate bore, but instead remained urgent with developments that constantly re-appraise the stakes and circumstances of its characters.
NEGATIVES
Laughs are obviously the most vital ingredient to any comedy, especially one that is rooted in satire as this one evidently is, but the effectiveness of the material never finds confidence or consistency in ways that appraises value to the engagement, proving the squeezed creativity for Libii, who served as writer, director and producer of the film. As a director, Libii fumbles in the tone-deaf realities of the experience, with the sadly surreal executed as gags, which the comedically cliche’d executed as drama, leading to an interpretation in which I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or let the film vividly spell it out for me, to which it did a number of times in the meandering musical score and emphatically forced deliveries of some of its supporting ensemble. But the gags themselves are easily the film’s weakest element, not only because they’re dressed-up and delivered without any kind of maintained momentum between interactions or scenes, but also because the punchlines themselves more often than not point to legitimately concerning issues within our society that are difficult to laugh at, leaving me feeling more mature than the film that I was watching. In addition to the half baked humor, the film makes a consciencious decision at the midway mark to pursue a heavily cliche’d romantic subplot, all in consequence to the focus of the society, which practically disappears from the proceedings until the script has no choice but to bring it back. While I did invest in the aforementioned growing bond between Smith and Bogan, which sweetly surrenders a euphoric connection between them, it wasn’t the movie that I was promised in the depths of a refreshingly original concept, and only further added to the tonal complexity between any two of the movie’s scenes, which at times felt like they were plucked from two entirely different films. On top of the script, the production values looked a bit jarring and cartoonish at times, especially a projecting effect in the lair of the Magical Negroes, as well as a teleportation effect in the editing, which regretfully brought shades of 90’s kids movies to the forefront of my memory. While I don’t look for radiant production values in a movie that shouldn’t be concerned with them, the cheap effects in the context of the manner they’re orchestrated, does take away the mystique factor and allure of the group in question, especially when the edits themselves simply paste a scene over a scene, instead of using a teleporting effect to insert the actors to the pre-existing frame of the location they’re being flashed towards. Finally, while the film does tie up its drama in ways that are fulfilling to the characters, the climax involved in these resolutions falls a bit flat towards the interpretation of its audience, abandoning the stakes and effects of these motions that kind of makes the whole thing feel a bit pointless when the complete picture is eventually conjured. While I expected a happy ending that wouldn’t rattle the nerves of its audience too significantly, the ignorance and overwhelming glaring plot hole left abandoned by these final motions by its characters feel a bit irresponsible and even dangerous for the contextual world that imaginatively persists, long after the film concludes, leading not only to closure for an original concept that was deduced to predictability, but also the exclamation mark to the film’s inferiority complex in contrast to other succesful black subversive concepts, like “Get Out” or “American Fiction”, which weren’t afraid to rattle the realities of characters, and as a result succeeded in sewing something lasting and endearing to its audience, which this film isn’t fortunate enough to attain.
OVERALL
“The American Society of Magical Negroes” is a uniquely fascinating idea in the depths of fantastically satirical mayhem but executed underwhelmingly with limited laughs and shallow thematic depth that prove the absence of its cinematic magic. While Smith does take an emotionally ambitious step forward, the society surrounding his efforts refuse to meet him halfway, leaving a compelling concept plagued by the actions of tonally inconsistent and lackadaisical executions, where it stalls in the shadows of subversively superior films.
My Grade: 5/10 or D