‘The American Society of Magical Negroes’ Review
Stars: Justice Smith, David Alan Grier, An-Li Bogan, Drew Tarver, Michaela Watkins, Aisha Hinds, Tim Baltz, Rupert Friend, Nicole Byer | Written and Directed by Kobi Libii
The debut feature from writer-director Kobi Libii, this blackly comic fantasy comedy has a solid central idea, but never quite gets to grips with its own satirical intent. Ultimately, it works better as an offbeat romantic comedy, thanks to an engaging central performance and charming chemistry between the two leads.
Justice Smith stars as Aaron Mbondo, an artist in Los Angeles whose yarn sculptures aren’t quite cutting it with the art gallery crowd. After a painful show, during which he’s mistaken for a waiter, insult is added to injury when he’s nearly beaten up by some white guys who think he’s a mugger. However, he’s rescued at the last minute by Roger (David Alan Grier), a server he recognises from the gallery.
Roger then proceeds to recruit Aaron into The American Society of Magical Negroes, a secret organisation of Black people dedicated to making white people feel safe and happy, with the reasoning that if white people aren’t stressed or angry, then they’re not hurting or killing Black people. The name of the Society comes from the movie trope, exemplified by movies like Driving Miss Daisy and Green Mile, whereby kindly, twinkly-eyed Black characters exist only to help out the white characters and dispense pearls of wisdom, with no interior lives of their own.
Once inducted, Aaron is assigned his first client, software designer Jason (Drew Tarver), who works for ultra-hip tech company MeetBox, run by guru-like Australian Mick (Rupert Friend). Aaron befriends Jason easily and everything seems to be going well, until they both fall for co-worker Lizzie (An-Li Bogan) and Roger informs Aaron that he’ll have to stand aside so that the white guy will get what he wants.
Libii apparently intended the film to originally be a short, and that makes a lot of sense, as the film has the distinct feel of a clever idea padded out to feature length. The result is that, having established the existence of the Society and outlined its various rules, the film doesn’t seem to know what to do next, so it elbows the Society off the screen and concentrates on the tech company romcom instead.
That’s not actually a bad thing, as Justice Smith has charisma to burn, and his scenes with An-Li Bogan are utterly charming. Similarly, Tarver is likeable enough to make the central conflict work and there’s strong comic support from Grier (who’s clearly enjoying himself), though Michaela Watkins (a welcome presence in any comedy) is sadly underused as Jason’s boss.
Ultimately, The American Society of Magical Negroes lacks the sharpness and focus it needs to really make its satire work. That’s not to say there are no laughs, but there are also plenty of moments that don’t really land. Similarly, while the film does give Aaron a meaningful speech towards the end, it doesn’t quite tie together with the central idea, which lends the finale an up-in-the-air feeling with regards to what happens to the Society afterwards, almost as if the film wasn’t really bothered.
**½ 2.5/5
The American Society of Magical Negroes is in cinemas now.
