This movie is a bit meta, in the sense that it's about a writer who writes a book under a pseudonym as a joke and gets a lot of serious recognition, including film rights which in the end they turn into this movie, or something similar. I think that's the biggest problem with this story. The third act is trying too hard to be smart. My wife stopped watching way before that, because she thought it was too far fetched. Probably the sanest reaction to a film that evokes the same reactions ridiculed in it!
You already know the gist of the story, what you don't know is that most of it is not about the societal satire we've been promised but about the personal life of the main character. His family, his girlfriend, his housekeeper, and so on. The ending, therefore, leans a lot into being meta and going all into the declared story of the film. But it just feels grating, fake, something done for the millions of White watchers that expected something down that line. Wait... is my review meta, too?! NOOOO!
The point is, Jeffrey Wright was great as the main character and all the actors get kudos from me because they were really well chosen and played very well. Unfortunately, the story was too all over the place. It's unsatisfying as a societal satire, because that's way too little, even while whatever is there is pretty good stuff. It's unsatisfying as a personal drama, because to be honest, the character is not that well fleshed out. He's a Black writer. That's about all we know about him and the interactions with his family that are supposed to make him relatable feel actually more like fillers. I have no motivation to relate to him, other than the role that the description of the film assigns to him and then the movie fails to fill in.
Bottom line: I fear that without Jeffrey Wright's acting, this film would have just been meh! Something trying to hard to do too many things at once. That extra star is for casting and acting. I liked the underlying idea, too, but I feel the implementation was lacking.
You already know the gist of the story, what you don't know is that most of it is not about the societal satire we've been promised but about the personal life of the main character. His family, his girlfriend, his housekeeper, and so on. The ending, therefore, leans a lot into being meta and going all into the declared story of the film. But it just feels grating, fake, something done for the millions of White watchers that expected something down that line. Wait... is my review meta, too?! NOOOO!
The point is, Jeffrey Wright was great as the main character and all the actors get kudos from me because they were really well chosen and played very well. Unfortunately, the story was too all over the place. It's unsatisfying as a societal satire, because that's way too little, even while whatever is there is pretty good stuff. It's unsatisfying as a personal drama, because to be honest, the character is not that well fleshed out. He's a Black writer. That's about all we know about him and the interactions with his family that are supposed to make him relatable feel actually more like fillers. I have no motivation to relate to him, other than the role that the description of the film assigns to him and then the movie fails to fill in.
Bottom line: I fear that without Jeffrey Wright's acting, this film would have just been meh! Something trying to hard to do too many things at once. That extra star is for casting and acting. I liked the underlying idea, too, but I feel the implementation was lacking.
Tell Your Friends