The American Society of Magical Negroes

Could a movie possibly be any LESS aware of what's going on in the country? Did someone really think it was the right time to make this? Who would fund this and why?

How unbelievably inappropriate.

Do they not realize that in order to MAKE this movie they needed access to the ACTUAL magic of FILM and cinema? Technology and methods that were invented in Europe. The actual real life magic of cinema HAS improved EVERYONE'S lives. It is something to be shared and appreciated by ALL. Movies like this serve to, once again, separate and divide. Tragic.

The absolute hypocrisy of this movie is honestly astounding. This will gain ZERO support for the cause it's trying to validate. If anything, this is counter intuitive.

We need more of Jordan Peele and less of these ridiculously self serving fabricated fantasies of toxic filmmakers.

The very premise of the movie would suggest it's going to be a comedy, maybe something that addresses racism in a way that everyone can still enjoy. Something akin to "blazing saddles" would have made this movie worth watching. Instead you are left with a movie with a million logic gaps, no real humor, no action and nothing close to witty dialogue. Feels more like somebody took their inspiration from a 4 year old complaining about things they don't understand and making suggestions that do not make sense. If I could give this movie a negative star rating I would, instead I'm left giving it a 1 star rating as that is the lowest rating I can give.

I love David Alan Grier and pretty much anything that has to do with magic/fantasy so I thought I'd give this a try. Big mistake. Aside from the fact that the film is obviously celebrating blatant racism masked as anti-racist satire, the story wasn't good, the acting was (overall) subpar and even the special effects left to be desired.

If you're looking for something good that will scratch this itch, rewatch the Harry Potter films. Take another turn with Lord of the Rings and then, of course, the Hobbit. Heck, even the Merlin show on BBC would be a solid choice. This film is part of the problem.

I didn't know what this movie was gonna be about I just thought the name was funny. It's starts off awkward, seemed like a typical role for Justice Smith. I was hoping it was gonna have some grandeur to it, I was expecting a really funny black Harry Potter maybe. The premise is a little weird, maybe racist too. And I don't think the movie as a whole was executed well.

I had a couple laughs. Like how they couldn't figure out a better way to design a secret entrance in the barber shop. The speech he gave about the magical society and sharks was hilariously bad. I kept comparing this to American fiction, very unfavorably. It felt like that's what they were trying to do. Felt like it could be funnier. The story and its characters took everything seriously even though the premise felt extremely silly.

Throughout the movie, I was inundated with waves of second-hand embarrassment and awkwardness. The premise relies heavily on white discomfort, well I'm black and I was like "ugh, no" a lot. The movie felt inconsistent, with some scenes seeming okay, as if they belonged in a better film, while others gave me the urge to scream "nooo!!" even louder than Charles Leclerc in France. The final speech was particularly dreadful, it was out of the blue, replete with cringe-inducing moments and also unjustified based off what we saw of the character. He was simply a socially awkward guy, period. It had nothing to do with him being black. The collective sighs of "oh no" from the audience were frequent. I shouldn't say the audience, there were only like 5 other people in the theatre. A lot of scenes were hard to watch.

However, I did like the romantic bits, which could have easily formed the basis of a separate film. I'd certainly be keen to watch a cheesy romcom starring Justice Smith and An Li Bogan.

There were a few bits that I liked, that made me laugh, but this could've been so much better, or maybe not even made at all lol. I don't think the movie had any meaning behind it that it conveyed successfully. I think if I liked the movie, I'd have maybe liked the ending. Instead I thought "oh no, there's gonna be another one."

The American Society of Magical Negroes was a movie that I was sort of looking forward to seeing. Not enough to pay extra but enough to be happy it was on a streaming service. I walked into this knowing that a "magical negro" is a racist trope from 20th century movies, where the token Black is an overly-nice dark skinned person who may or may not have spiritual and/or supernatural abilities that result in peace, happiness or joy for the main white character(s).

So I am not one of the people who are whining that this is racist or offensive to white people.

I am however saying that it was done poorly. For example, David Allen Grier as Roger (the most magical of negroes) tells younger Justice Smith as Aren that he's only nice to white people because he's afraid of them.

Um...you could say this about women being nice to men, about children behaving for authority figures, about common citizens acting passive around the police, about yes white people being afraid of people of color. It's not a convincing idea to me that the Black version of a "nice guy" is only that way because he's afraid of whites.

The scene with the ATM was weird too, it wasn't believable or even funny. A seemingly intoxicated and not too bright young woman asks for help with the ATM and asks Aren to hold her purse, which turns into some white men almost beating him up for a mugging that didn't happen. Like, no.

Aren's art was also bad. He didn't sell his art because his art sucked. There's just so much wrong with the execution of this film in the first 30 minutes that it causes me to believe this would have been funnier and much more powerful as a Key and Peele or SNL skit.