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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
8
Mixed:
6
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews
Apr 15, 2020
Season 1 Review:
The cast handles the whip-smart dialogue perfectly. It’s hardly a surprise Barris and Rashida Jones are terrific, but it ain’t easy finding a half-dozen young to very young actors who are so authentic, so skilled at comedic timing, so good at creating original characters who are believable even in his heightened comedic atmosphere. And oh, the subjects “#blackAF” tackles with hilarious, unblinking truth and humor.
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ColliderApr 17, 2020
Apr 17, 2020
Season 1 Review:
It seems like anything can happen on #blackAF. It’s that kind of unpredictability and refreshing tone that make the idea of future #blackAF seasons exciting—as long as Barris continues to follow the advice his character gets from Tyler Perry: “Tell your own experience. Can’t nobody tell you how to be you.”
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Apr 16, 2020
Season 1 Review:
Sometimes it's a post-modern exercise. Sometimes it's a sour smirk at audience expectations. Sometimes it's self-flagellation. I found it often funny and was invested in trying to decode the layers of fictional autobiography. As to whether the layers of cynicism and discomfort are actually pleasurable to watch? That's a tougher question.
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Apr 15, 2020
Season 1 Review:
It’s the Curb Your Enthusiasm to Black-ish’s Seinfeld, with monologues interspersed throughout that tackle fraught issues within the black community, like materialism and fatherhood. These interludes can be illuminating, but they—along with the framing device and too many tired family-sitcom plots (e.g., Mom and Dad do drugs)—slow the already languid pace. More engaging are scenes that depict Barris’ professional life. ... Barris’ Larry-David-like self-awareness lends authenticity to his performance. Even if it takes another season to perfect, #blackAF feels substantial enough to justify the investment.
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Apr 17, 2020
Apr 16, 2020
Season 1 Review:
“#blackAF” is funny and audacious in many of the same ways [as “black-ish”] — “Curb Your Enthusiasm” to its predecessor’s “Seinfeld.” But there are an awful lot of echoes and repetitions: themes that might have been explored on “black-ish,” story lines and character dynamics that already were explored on “blackish.” “#blackAF” finds its voice immediately. It takes longer to suggest its purpose — that is, what Barris can say here that he couldn’t and hasn’t already.
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Apr 17, 2020
Season 1 Review:
You're either completely in on the joke, or have at least accepted its shortcomings enough to enjoy the lines that Barris has written at his own expense. But if you don't quite make it there, never mind. Barris is committing enough self-flagellation for the entire culture by way of an upscale reprise of past TV acts, and we are under no obligation because of anything to bear witness.
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Apr 27, 2020
Season 1 Review:
“#blackAF” is a messy show about the mess of making television. ... The other seven episodes blur into one another, lacking story or situation. I couldn’t get enough of Jones as a loving, self-absorbed, rich-bitch mom, and I will never complain about a Nia Long cameo, especially one in which she’s playing a hustler publicist. But “#blackAF” desperately needs fewer riffs and an expanded character universe to leaven its atmosphere of crushing self-indulgence.
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Apr 16, 2020
Season 1 Review:
Inaugurating "Black-ish" producer Kenya Barris' deal with Netflix, "#blackAF" is as messy as its title -- an unwieldy, self-indulgent show in which Barris, much like Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," plays a version of himself. It's both a tired concept and an awkwardly constructed one, something that cute hashtags and the occasional clever Hollywood/L.A. reference can't fix.
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IndieWireApr 15, 2020
Season 1 Review:
It feels like a kind of confessional — although it rarely rises above surface-level self-aggrandizing — and it meanders due to the absence of a clearly expressed series arc. ... Except for the occasional one-liner that lands, it’s just not funny, and is often tedious to watch.
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Apr 16, 2020
Season 1 Review:
The air here is thick with narcissism and self-absorption, in such quantities and misfired jokes as to make any viewer, black or otherwise, struggle with the show’s tone and intent. Barris is not nearly a strong enough actor to convey the complicated nuances he’s going for here, while it’s up to Jones to remind viewers that they are indeed watching a comedy.
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RogerEbert.comApr 15, 2020
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