The American Society of Magical Negroes

I love David Allen Grier and Justice Smith and I love their chemistry. This movie did get slow at times, but it did bring things to my attention that I had been previously unaware of. I had such little understanding of what black peoples lives were like on a daily basis and how much discrimination they have to deal with. BLM opened my eyes to a lot and this movie helps further that. I'm baffled by the copious amounts of bad reviews. I wouldn't watch this again, but I'm glad I did once. Things have to change and even though this movie didn't get a great reception it's an important step forward. Keep talking about uncomfortable things, because that's the only way things will change.

I'm really shocked ANYONE at ANY POINT thought this script was a good idea. It's one of those films that makes you uncomfortable - not due to the tropes they included, but because of the fact that this is just lazy lazy LAZY writing!

Any sort of movement forward has been pushed back by decades thanks to the 'brain trust' that came up with this garbage. It's 2024 - we're better than this, aren't we?

The premise of this whole film is insulting to our people - in ALL regards. The fact that it bombed at the box office is of no shock - nor should it be to anyone who saw it. Thank goodness we have American Fiction; at least that spectacular film made its point w/o being ridiculous .

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."

This movie is not as bad as the 1-star reviewers would have you believe. Reading those reviews it's clear they missed the point - "It's Not the Shark, It's the Water." That said, I think the movie would have done better as a stage play, or maybe with a slightly larger budget it could have been a good limited-run TV show like "Woke" on Hulu.

It's set up like your standard romantic comedy starting with an awkward meet-cute, but then there's a lot of talking - a lot of heartfelt conversations, lots of exposition, a chaotic monologue...little was done to spice things up. Sorry guys but a clearly ADR touched up walk and talk through Echo Park isn't gonna cut it in 2024.

Admittedly, this is not a movie for everyone. If you're not prepared for a slow satirical comedy this movie will frustrate you. If you don't "get" satire, this movie will frustrate you. It's an obvious wink and a nod to certain demographics, and if you know, you know, and if you don't, this movie might make you feel uncomfortable. ;)