American Fiction
Orion Pictures | Release Date: December 15, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
81
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 54 Critic Reviews
Positive:
53
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonJan 2, 2024
The satire isn’t as brutal as it could have been — and perhaps needed to be — but overall, I thought “American Fiction” was a rousing success that got me thinking about my own experiences. Read full review
100
Washington PostAnn HornadayDec 20, 2023
American Fiction would be an enormously entertaining and observant comedy even if it just stuck to the hilarious, if cringey, lengths to which the White establishment will go in the name of psychic safety and self-protection. But Jefferson overlays the story’s most biting wit with layers of warmth, sadness and discovery that make this movie far more than the sum of its parts. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleDec 12, 2023
American Fiction is not a perfect film. The book trails off at the finish, and though the movie comes up with something better, the end still doesn’t feel ideal. But none of that matters as much as it might, because Wright gives the perfect performance. Read full review
95
Film ThreatAlan NgDec 16, 2023
The American Fiction cast is brilliant. Read full review
93
The Daily BeastNick SchagerSep 10, 2023
A triumphant satire about race, exploitation, family and identity that’s as rich and captivating as [Wright's] tour-de-force. Read full review
91
Original-CinLiam LaceyDec 20, 2023
Pointed, wryly funny, and well-cast, American Fiction is easy to recommend for its humour and timely commentary. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzDec 20, 2023
The genius in Wright’s performance and Jefferson’s direction lies in how they don’t succumb to the temptation to overplay anything. Wright gets Monk’s rage just right — it’s internal, though at some point a pressure cooker has to blow. Read full review
90
ABC NewsPeter TraversDec 15, 2023
Cord Jefferson’s slashingly funny satire of Black literary stereotyping is one of the best and boldest American comedies in years with a dynamite performance by Jeffrey Wright that should put him up front in the Oscar sweeps. You won't look at race on screen in the same way again. Read full review
90
The New York TimesAmy NicholsonDec 14, 2023
To make good on his movie’s message, Jefferson is determined to give space to the moments of Monk’s life that don’t hinge on race at all. Read full review
90
TheWrapSteve PondSep 10, 2023
There’s no real tonal conflict between the lightness of the comedy and the import of the issues it is addressing; American Fiction runs on serious conversations that are never bogged down by being treated too seriously. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreSep 10, 2023
The literary world jabs are sharp and funny, but it’s the rueful family dynamics that make the film so rewarding, as well as the performances. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleRod MachenDec 12, 2023
Family dynamics are just one tentpole in Jefferson's construction of a movie that deals with authenticity in direct opposition to the easy and frivolous. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldJan 5, 2024
It’s a sharp, pointed satire that’s also very funny. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsDec 22, 2023
The movie we have is a movie that works, blending seriocomic domestic material with the larger, more pointed social observations about white liberal guilt, code-switching Black authors (Issa Rae is most welcome as Monk’s primary foil) and a lot more. Read full review
88
USA TodayBrian TruittDec 15, 2023
As much of a wry hoot as it is, with Wright as the film's enjoyably irascible lead, Jefferson also weaves in a dysfunctional family drama that gives it emotional heft to complement the hilarity. Read full review
85
SlashfilmMike ShuttNov 3, 2023
American Fiction fully understands that you don't have to sacrifice art or politics for entertainment, satisfying those who want a rich thematic experience or to just have a laugh in a crowded theater. Read full review
83
ColliderChase HutchinsonSep 12, 2023
There is a wonderfully withering sense of humor in how American Fiction explores this as all of the conversations Monk begins to have around the book he wrote as a joke sees it spiraling out of his control. Read full review
83
IndieWireJourdain SearlesSep 11, 2023
Ultimately, American Fiction is an impressive debut from Jefferson, who has seamlessly made the leap from the small to big screen with a strong comedic voice and characters crafted with empathy and care. While the satire could have been sharper and more complex, the film is mostly saved by its humor. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeFeb 7, 2024
The story works on two levels, first as a prickly critique of the pressures facing Black creatives. But equally satisfying is its depiction of the abrasive, complicated dynamics in a high-achieving family. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinFeb 2, 2024
The quietly ingenious ending is the opposite of having your cake and eating it, and leaves your stomach rumbling for a resolution this film is too smart to provide. Read full review
80
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyFeb 2, 2024
To reduce the film simply to its outlook on race ignores both its content and its message, as some of its most rewarding elements follow Monk back to his family, for a funny, touching portrait of a man attempting to fine-tune his relationship with the world. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesTara BradyFeb 1, 2024
Cultural crises are seldom so entertaining. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawJan 31, 2024
Broad-brush American Fiction might be, but its approach to race and racism is oblique and unexpected, and it’s very funny about publishing’s literary ghetto. Read full review
80
Time OutPhil de SemlyenJan 30, 2024
With top performances and real heart, American Fiction is a film that diagnoses the problem and presents a cure. Read full review
80
Total FilmJames MottramJan 29, 2024
Despite the slightly uneven pacing, Wright’s sturdy performance keeps things on an even keel. The result is a fiendishly sharp poke at questionable notions of Black representation in the modern world. Read full review
80
EmpireKambole CampbellJan 29, 2024
Elegantly walking a line between absurdist satire and family drama, this is a clever send-up of how the broadness of Black culture gets reduced to cliché. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshDec 17, 2023
It’s a thoughtful and complex film that unfolds under repeat viewings and signals the arrival of an exciting new filmmaker. Read full review
80
VoxConstance GradyDec 15, 2023
Despite his grumpy contrarianism, Monk is an intensely lovable character. In part, that’s thanks to Wright’s gleeful, nuanced performance; in part, it’s because Jefferson shows us all of who Monk is. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithDec 15, 2023
American Fiction is being heralded as a brilliant satire, which is almost correct. I’d say it’s sharp and funny, but its targets are low-hanging, and the film’s writer-director, Cord Jefferson, is hardly the first to take a poke at them. Read full review
80
CNNBrian LowryDec 15, 2023
Ultimately, American Fiction raises questions about the price of Black success in a White-dominated media and entertainment culture. What it doesn’t do, while maintaining its satirical edge and eye, is provide any easy answers. Read full review
80
Rolling StoneDavid FearDec 15, 2023
It helps that American Fiction has, at its center, someone who gives Monk a keen intelligence, a razor-sharp wit, and a spiky exterior, as well as showing you the perpetually scratched romantic beneath the battle-tested cynic. Read full review
80
BBCKaleem AftabSep 20, 2023
It's such an entertaining film that it's easy to overlook the fact that the comedy only works because it depicts structural racism in such an exaggerated black-and-white manner. Read full review
80
Screen RantPatrice WitherspoonSep 11, 2023
Perhaps one of the most provocative and strongest satires in recent memory, American Fiction contains wickedly smart writing, superb performances, and messaging so in-your-face that it could almost be easy to miss. Read full review
80
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 10, 2023
The helmer trusts his audience to bring themselves to the material. Ultimately, that’s what makes reading “American Fiction” so rewarding. Read full review
80
Vanity FairRichard LawsonSep 10, 2023
American Fiction, a sharp and clever film, could be all the more so if it felt better connected to the present tense. As is, the reflection is a bit warped; contemporary subtleties are missing. Read full review
80
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 10, 2023
American Fiction can be tender and also brutally funny, wise but also sometimes rushed in its attempts to tie up its many threads. The film is always alive with ideas and filled with compassion for its complicated characters, however. Like a good novel, it’s very hard to put down. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeSep 10, 2023
American Fiction is smart and, thanks to its fine cast, has genuine heart. Read full review
80
The GuardianRadheyan SimonpillaiSep 10, 2023
With American Fiction, Cord Jefferson crafts a hilarious and withering satire about an African American novelist chafing against an industry that limits Black storytelling to trauma and poverty narratives. Read full review
79
Paste MagazineKevin Fox, Jr.Dec 13, 2023
American Fiction is a satire about how far up our own asses writers can fit our heads, confronting and interrogating the concepts of genius, self-regard and good taste. Read full review
75
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenDec 20, 2023
More successful as a quiet, nuanced family drama than a broad social satire. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 19, 2023
In writer-director Cord Jefferson’s timely and sharp and subversively funny “American Fiction,” Wright is accorded the relatively rare opportunity to take the lead, and he delivers a richly layered performance that reminds us he’s one of the best actors of his generation. It’s a joy to watch. Read full review
75
ObserverOliver JonesDec 14, 2023
While it is done well enough, the more complicated family story it eschews feels rarer and more valuable. Read full review
75
The Associated PressLindsey BahrDec 13, 2023
The film is immensely watchable, staged without flash or pretention, that relies on its sharp script and talented and charismatic actors to carry the audience through. Wright is particularly delightful at the center of it all as he navigates a new relationship as well as the consequences of his lie and how far he’s willing to go with it. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 12, 2023
American Fiction is the best kind of satire – one that is full-throated in its message, which it delivers with a cutting edge, while simultaneously taking the time to develop the characters in a meaningful way. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 29, 2023
Almost everything about the writing, publishing, fame-fighting and Monk confronting his own prejudices, seems truncated to make more room for family drama. And while the relationship with his sister (Ross) seems beautifully lived-in until it’s chopped off, and every moment Wright and Brown trade jibes, jabs and affectionate brotherly connections is rewarding, nothing else delivers at that level. Read full review
75
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodSep 17, 2023
The end result is often so insightful and entertaining that it makes you immediately wonder what subject matter Jefferson will tackle next. Read full review
75
The Film StageJordan RaupSep 11, 2023
For all its anger at the ways Black experience has been flattened, reduced, and commodified, American Fiction has a fleet-footed touch, distilling complicated systemic issues of race to a comedy that invites both a laugh and conversation. Read full review
70
TimeStephanie ZacharekDec 18, 2023
American Fiction isn’t nearly as cutting, or as ultimately moving, as its source material—but that doesn’t make it dismissible. Read full review
70
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerDec 13, 2023
American Fiction is a serious-minded satire about race relations that is often exasperatingly at odds with itself. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubMurtada ElfadlDec 13, 2023
American Fiction is an intriguing conundrum. It starts as a sizzling, hilarious satire that manages to sling pointed arrows at most of its targets. However, by trying to become too many things, it ends up sanding the edges off its sharpness. Still, the journey to its denouement remains mostly entertaining. Read full review
64
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzDec 20, 2023
Despite strong performances across the board – most notably Wright, who has never before been able to flex such leading-man magnetism – there is an overriding flatness to Monk’s personal life. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comPeyton RobinsonDec 15, 2023
American Fiction trips over its own feet in its final act, stumbling between daydream sequences and multiple storylines before finding a final, underwhelming resolution. But the attentive lens that the film devotes to its concept and themes is what will be remembered. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineEric HendersonDec 4, 2023
Without spoiling its increasingly ludicrous (and ludicrously believable) escalations, American Fiction ultimately gets off scot-free clinging doggedly to the middle ground. Read full review
60
Little White LiesDavid JenkinsFeb 1, 2024
There are some great things in this film, yet its intentions are swept up in a mire of tonal indecision and cynicism masquerading as irony. Read full review
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