The American Society of Magical Negroes

Watched this at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

This is the kind of movie where it has an interesting premise and it could have explored interesting satirical themes and ideas but instead, the filmmaker doesn't really offer much with any creative outlooks and follows cliched and uninteresting tropes.

Kobi Libii has a concept that could have been interesting but his bland direction and the unambitious tones really create a hollow and investing story with dull cliche tropes, uninteresting characters and weak performances from the cast members. I like Justice Smith and Smith is trying his best but unfortunately his dull character and the poor dialogue really lacks his performance. Throughout, I found myself feeling bored and thinking that this movie could have been at least interesting if the filmmaker had thought about actually trying to add something that feels weird or unique. But that's not what I got. Instead, what I got was more of a dull and uninspired narrative that really wastes the talented cast and concepts.

What a shame.

I almost didn't take the time to watch this movie streaming on Peacock. The title sure is attention-getting but so many negative reviews and low votes made me hesitant. But I decided to give it 10 minutes, then became invested, and am happy to say the movie is very good, unique, inventive, witty and entertaining. Plus it makes you think.

So why all the bad reviews and low votes? I can only speculate but I believe it is because it hits too close to home and many people feel uncomfortable with the message, that for their own safety black people must keep white people feeling comfortable. But keep in mind it is satire. With a message.

It immediately reminded me of older movies like Will Smith in "Bagger Vance" and Morgan Freeman in "Driving Miss Daisy", plus several others, which represented these sorts of characters.

In this movie Justice Smith plays Aren, a black man, an artist, who often feel invisible. He isn't mistreated, he is just ignored. He gets recruited into this magical society, he is assigned a client, a white man, he must help him feel good about himself and not interfere with anything. That gets hard when both of them get romantic feelings towards their same coworker. Aren has to make a decision, will he remain faithful to his magical assignment, or will he decide to be true to himself?

I was afraid that the last half hour or so would be a disappointment but it wasn't. It concluded with progress on Aren's part, plus additional whimsy and additional magic.

I know it isn't for everyone but the 2/3 of "1" votes are bogus. Strip all those away and what you have left are mostly ratings of "6" or "7."

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.

I was hoping to atleast get a couple laughs or see some interesting/fresh takes on black American culture; I was sadly disappointed. I expected so little and was still so let down. I'm mostly confused as to why anyone who want they names attached to such a stupid, ignorant, devisive and hateful script. I'm trying to think of a single redeeming feature of this film... the acting was ok even good at times and the direction wasn't bad. That's all I got.

I do not recommend. Don't waste your time. It's not even worth the watch for the lulz or for watching a train wreck.

It's soul sucking to any decent human being, maybe this should be used down in Gitmo for torture?

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.