There are two distinctly different stories scuffing up against one another in American Fiction. One concerns a professionally successful but personally messy family navigating a series of hardships. The other is about what happens when an intellectual writer allows his frustration with the world to compromise his artistic vision.
Based on Percival Everett’s 2011 novel Erasure, American Fiction, written and directed by Cord Jefferson, revolves around author Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (played engagingly by Jeffrey Wright). When we first find him, Monk is tired of seeing his novels sidelined into the African American Studies section of the bookstore, while works that reinforce racist stereotypes are welcomed into central displays. His frustration is compounded when he is forced to take a leave of absence from his university job for being too unfiltered and ornery.
In the midst of dealing with those professional problems, Monk is called home to Boston where he faces additional issues hitting his mother and siblings. (Wright’s chemistry with Sterling K. Brown and Tracee Ellis Ross, who play Monk’s brother and sister, is a consistent delight). The combination of all these stresses one night prompts Monk to sit down and angrily pen a manuscript steeped in Black stereotypes and awash with pandering storylines. The book, titled My Pafology, is intended as a middle finger to the publishers who think Monk’s other most recent novel isn’t “Black enough” to warrant release.
To Monk’s surprise and consternation, those same publishers fall over themselves to pick up Pafology. Before long, the writer is doing interviews as his alter-ego, Stagg. R. Leigh (a fun nod to infamous 19th century pimp Stagger Lee, who has inspired countless songs over the years). A series of increasingly ludicrous events follow as Monk’s personal ethical conundrums spiral out into the wider literary world.
‘American Fiction’ opens nationwide on Dec. 22, 2023.
