The American Society of Magical Negroes (2024)
A young man, Aren, is recruited into a secret society of magical Black people who dedicate their lives to a cause of utmost importance: making white people’s lives easier.
- Kobi Libii
- Micheal Edward King
- Brendan Lee
- Kobi Libii
Rating: 4.6/10 by 74 users
Alternative Title:
האגודה האמריקאית של השחור הקסום - IL
האגודה האמריקאית לשחורים קסומים - IL
La sociedad estadounidense de negros mágicos - MX
La sociedad estadounidense de negros mágicos - ES
Bűvös Négerek Amerikai Társasága - HU
Country:
United States of America
Language:
English
Runtime: 01 hour 45 minutes
Budget: $0
Revenue: $2,480,645
Plot Keyword: satire, racial stereotype, playful, pathetic, inspirational, critical, dignified
I think that for satire to work, you have to be able to ensure that the audience is on board with the underlying premiss it's trying to achieve. Despite a decent effort from Justice Smith's "Aren" (and his impressive collection of knitwear) I just wasn't. Relying on long forgotten (if, indeed, they were ever actually known in the first place) tropes about racial stereotyping - and not just those from an African American point of view, makes this actually quite an offensive film to watch. Perhaps I am overthinking it, but I found absolutely nothing here with which I could relate - sarcastically or otherwise. The comedy, such as it is, is entirely contrived and the romantic elements between "Aren", "Lizzie" (An-Li Bogan) and "Jason" (Drew Tarver) are badly written and frequently cringe-makingly acted out. Peppering the thing with a few "Harry Potter" style magical effects and adding the benign characterisation of "Barber" (Aaron Colman) so that this "Society" can spend their entire time trying to "fix" the problems of their hapless and hopelessly out of their emotional depth white contemporaries just falls flat. It simply isn't funny. If a load of white folk got together and decided to make a movie about a group of innately obsequious and subservient non-white people, it would (and should) be banned. This is a clumsy and unfunny reinforcement of flawed values seen from an wholly unrealistic perspective and I struggled to sit through it, then wondered just why I bothered. Maybe it will resonate if you are American? I hope not.
