Dear White People (2017)

Dear White People gives you an abundance of characters to care about and entertains with its inspired, hilarious storytelling. Simien keeps and hones the heightened reality style of his film. The meticulous compositions and meta-awareness are reminiscent of the Coen brothers and Spike Lee.

The entire cast is outstanding, and Simien’s script is masterful. On the one hand, he is dealing with very complicated identity issues with intelligence and directness. On another level, though, he’s writing exceptionally funny comedy, crackling with credible wit that often packs a not-so-secret weapon: thought-provoking points of view about how we deal with issues of race and identity. Or, in some cases, how we don’t deal with them.

The series maintains a perfect balance between joy and trauma that exemplifies the duality of the black experience; its writing is sharp and contemporary. Even the moments of parody feel relatable as opposed to over-the-top.

DWP does want to be provocative, just not too provocative. Mostly it just wants to keep an open mind and open heart. Mostly, it succeeds.

It doesn’t just have a setting and a story, it has a philosophy and a vision of life. This is so rare in any art form that the show’s less-than-subtle aspects (and there are many) feel like features rather than bugs. ... Loosely based on Simien’s 2014 same-titled independent film but superior to it in almost every way.

Dear White People balances satirical irony and deep-seated rage to tell its richly entertaining, wildly funny yet deadly serious character-driven story of identity politics. [1-14 May 2017, p.19]

Dear White People is, in other words, one of the most confident new TV comedies I’ve ever seen--and that confidence is what ends up making it so compelling.

[Dear White People] elevates its source material into a deeply poignant exploration of where we are now.

Well-written, well-directed, and well-acted by an appealing young cast. ... Even for a show that revels in absurdist humor, it can be too glib (as in the reaction to the discovery of a dead student), and a bit too reliant on subsidiary characters who are too clueless and too Clueless. Still, in the end, those are minor quibbles with a show that is as entertaining as it is valuable.

Overall, the storytelling in Dear White People is solid, despite the mildly jarring feel of its two halves. There’s a palpable sense of purpose that unites all 10 episodes and an artistic style that consistently elevates it.

Dear White People works perfectly as a half-hour series, providing a sharp look at African-American students at a predominantly white Ivy League university while creating an assortment of appealing, well-defined personalities. Making the jump from 2014 movie to TV show, the Netflix show passes the test of juggling relevance and entertainment with flying colors.

Improve upon the film on which it’s based while simultaneously filling a hole in an entertainment field that sorely needed a thoughtful entry.

In presenting essentially the same chain of events, Rashomon-style, in Chapters I and II of the 10-episode series, Simien has effectively addressed criticism over the decidedly more scattershot approach favored by the feature; that sharper focus serves the new format well.

The series' inextricable mix of the personal and the political makes for the best of both worlds in the end, because Simien is sweet with his characters, who are, finally, sweet with one another. Principles matter here, but people matter more.

It’s arch, playful and pop literate. ... The rapid-fire jokes don’t all land, the supporting characters can be cartoonish and the satire didactic. The show’s strength is its confident, consistent voice.

Where the series really shines is in using its established characters to tell the same story from an array of angles, informed by a medley of experiences.

Season 1 Review: As it relaxes into the students’ lives, and explores their feelings about lovers of other races, the semi-compromised state of student journalism on campus, and the mental cost of always bracing for the next round of idiotic statements from aggrieved white bros, Dear White People does an increasingly assured job of depicting the amused frustration and disillusioned exhaustion of these students.

It’s still sometimes jarring when the occasionally broad humor transitions into the heavier political themes, but Simien is mostly good at balancing the two, using the humor (which is more clever than laugh-out-loud funny) to strengthen the social commentary and to show how even the most righteous characters have flaws and make mistakes. Read full review

Dear White People the show has the same problem as “DWP” the movie: a reliance on types rather than characters, on situations rather than storylines. ... It’s comedy. It should be funny (and sometimes is). Does it ultimately get to things that matter, and/or a fresh way of looking at them? There are indications it will, but it was also a bit early to tell.