I went and saw this this evening after a friend and my girlfriend both recommended it. It was really good. The gimmick on the tin belies that this is really a movie about burgeoning middle age and how we navigate that with grace and family and community. It’s funny, sweet, sad, and wry. Jeffrey Wright is, as always, a pleasure to watch and listen to. Sterling K Brown is hilarious and hot in a supporting role as Wright’s brother. And Issa Rae, Erika Alexander, and Tracee Ellis Ross are fantastic in smaller roles. The camera work throughout is understated, but perfectly serves the film’s tone. I thoroughly identified with the family drama that comes from both ailing parents and siblings lives unwinding and rewinding in new ways as we reach this age. I really enjoyed it.
I saw this over the weekend and really loved it. I don’t think it had much marketing on initial release as I hadn’t even heard of it until the Oscar noms.
+1 on everything Matt said. Just some beautiful acting in this. Great job by Leslie Uggams as the mother, as well.
We saw this today and enjoyed it too. I’m still processing what I thought it was going to be vs. what it actually is.
Like Matt said, the high-concept premise is like a narrative trojan horse hiding a funny and touching drama. It subtly becomes the kind of fiction about black families that I think Monk wants to write or wishes more people wanted to read/see.
Jeffrey Wright is always so consistently great. Did anyone else think of Hollywood Shuffle while watching? That would make a great double feature.
Cord Jefferson was on Roger Deakins’ podcast about the movie. Engaging interview subject–I knew his work but never heard him before. Getting the movie financed and distributed sounded painful.
I finally saw this last night. Like you all said, the premise about the novel is funny satire, but what really kept me watching was that Jeffrey Wright’s character had that feeling of being instantly familiar. They built the cast around him well, also. Every new scene just felt right. I didn’t want the movie to end; I just wanted more scenes with these people.
I definitely wanted at least one more scene. I understand the lack of closure with that one, but I’m an American and I want my solid happy endings, galdangit.
This was lovely. Every actor was fabulous, it was very sensitive, moving, but not afraid to be push boundaries either. I laughed a lot more than I thought I would too.
Jeffrey Wright is so watchable.
Just saw this and it toppled Barbie from its position as my favorite film of the year. Probably a longshot for the Best Picture Oscar, but I’m glad it was nominated because otherwise I might’ve missed it. In my mind it really deserves to win (at least) Best Adapted Screenplay. It deftly establishes and makes you care about a bunch of characters, goes deep into questions of social concern and artistic motivation, and it doesn’t need to push a three-hour running time to do it.
Afterwards I was thinking about this and Get Out, and how maybe black film makers really have to be twice as good to get their pictures made.
Just finished it, and I absolutely loved this movie. It’s so damn watchable, entertaining, and thought-provoking. Incredible cast, and like the rest of you, I didn’t want it to end.
Oh man, finally got to see this one.
Loved it, knew I would. Jeffery Wright, Sterling K Brown and Leslie Uggams were just spectacular. I know that there is a lot of criticism that this film basically commits the very sin that the entire plot is about, but that didn’t end up bothering me too much, because the adaptation chose a different focus than the book. There has been some backlash due to that.
There has been a lot of good writing about the book vs the film, and I have a gift link to an opinion piece roundtable on the WaPo, from 3 columnists, and their reaction to the film
Cord Jefferson deserves a lot of praise for a first time feature director, as the movie just had such a good feel to it. The music, the humor, the script, the performances. It felt like Alexander Payne’s best work. A grumpy middle aged male protagonist learning to accept the world around him etc. Just a really good watch, essential if you are a fan of Wright.
4/5
This is now included with Amazon Prime (in UK at least?)
Caught ot tonight and had a good time. The cast is definitely a big part of why it’s so enjoyable.
Must be rented or purchased here in the US. I have a bunch of credits from delaying shipping on stuff so it cost me $0.28 to rent. I cracked up when Keith David* showed up and performed a scene with the author participating. That said, I am a sucker for things where either the author intervenes directly in the plot/dialogue while it’s happening and/or where the character(s) are aware of the author.
*I am aware that Okieriete Onaodowan is also in the scene but I did not recognize him; apparently he was in Hamilton but I’ve never seen it.
THAT is where I recognized that actor from.
What a great scene though, fun stuff. It does feel a bit out of place, after the fact, though. Like, if you are going to do that trick, you would expect it to happen multiple times. But Cord decided to focus the film on Monk’s family and how his pen name authorship is effecting his personal life, so we got less of that.
To me, that is the real weakness of the film, that the entire “My Pafology” stuff ends up being more of a distraction. But, I still gave it a 4/5 because the performances were so strong, despite the plot feeling like it was being pulled in multiple directions.
Also, I didn’t realize that the score had been nominated for an Oscar, but it definitely deserved recognition as well. Very good, I might have to pick this one up on Vinyl.
That is a lovely way to put it. Even the side characters feel genuine on that front.
“He worked the omelet station on a cruise ship!”
While I recognized this was happening, I ascribed it to being part of the whole Meta- conceit that was wrapped up in the ending. That is, if the film was really all and only about the pernicious effects of white expectations, there wouldn’t be room to tell the genuine and idiosyncratic story of a middle-aged black writer from a privileged background. It would merely be reprising the very trope it was trying to critique. So the Erasure-bit is pushed to the side a bit (and portrayed in broad comedy) while the movie centers the realistic story. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but that was my head-canon and it made me love the movie.
Available on Prime Video here in Canada, for all those Canadian folks who want to watch. And you should. It really is a great film. If Paul Giamatti wasn’t going to win the Oscar then I would have loved to have it gone to Wright. And has Brown always been that beautiful? I suppose This is Us didn’t show him off that much and maybe his move to the world of movies and the type of films he’s worked on pointed him to get ripped. I mean, c’mon. He’s so funny in this, too, kind of a scene-stealer.
I agree that the cast made this movie tick along and were a joy to watch. It was a rare film with big laughs and some heavy lows that I’m still thinking about. And I very much loved the arc of the story to the end reveal. I honestly had a ‘wait, really?’ moment. Made me feel even more positive about it.