THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGICAL NEGROES

The American Society of Magical Negroes, Focus Features

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | March 15, 2024

Writer/director Kobi Libii promises a sharp satire of racism in storytelling with The American Society of Magical Negroes, which revolves around a secret society of Black men and women who can perform magic. More to the point, they do so in order to ensure that white people aren't too uncomfortable.

The premise is funny because of the long history of characters like those described by the title. Here, there are some highlight reels, played in the smoke of magical candles, of the society's most successful members: a mysterious billiards expert who shows up to teach a heartbroken pool player some important life lessons and a death row inmate who spends his final minutes alive making sure a prison guard can perform properly in the bedroom later that night.

Libii knows he doesn't need to tell us which films he's parodying here. They're self-evident, and besides, direct parody isn't really the point of this material. The filmmaker has broader ideas in mind about how and why this cliché persisted for so long and, like any—even seemingly positive ones that imbue people with literal magical powers—stereotype, it's detrimental to the lives, experiences, and very existence of a group of people.

Just beneath that, though, is another level to this satire, in which the eponymous society exists as a way to ensure longer and safer lives for Black people. A white cop, for example, might not be so eager to reach for a pistol if said cop gets into a club with the help of a couple of Black men and no longer feels insecure about his age. For the cop, it's a matter of ego, but just before meeting his aids in his quest to feel cool again, the mere sight of one of those Black men is enough for him to put his hand on his holster. The society's mission, then, is a matter of life or death.

The stakes of the story itself aren't quite that high, which might downplay a significant point Libii is trying to make, but in a way, that's fine. Satire doesn't need to be realistic, so long as it's addressing some real things worthy of mockery—this racist archetype—or inspection—that, as our protagonist eventually figures out, an entire army of people would find a way to argue that Aren (Justice Smith) deserved to be shot by a cop, no matter how much he smiled, how polite he was, and how worried about white people's feelings he may have been while he was alive.

The underlying point of this story is one of terrible truths, recognized and stated frequently here, and if the flip side of that is the idea of comfort, Libii provides what might be most comforting of stories by which to frame that material. It's a romantic comedy.

What's surprising, perhaps, is just how convincing and engaging the movie is in this safe, comfortable mode. It might be too convincing, in fact, with long stretches of this story, as Aren finds a seemingly perfect match in a co-worker while doing his first mission of the society, playing with such easy charm and genuine chemistry between its two leads. The general sweetness of what's basically a subplot is meant to help the medicinal social and cultural critique of the movie go down, but the sugary part of the material is overwhelming.

Thankfully, that's not in an unpleasant way, but Libii really does seem to lose the bite and, by the end, the point of those deeper issues in the process. It's a feel-good movie about a lot of things that probably shouldn't make us feel good.

Aren is recruited into the society by Roger (David Alan Grier, whose career is having a welcome boost recently and who's quite good here), a long-timer for the organization who recognizes how overly polite Aren is among a crowd of white people. After saving the 20-something from a misunderstanding involving a drunk woman and her purse, Roger explains that his attitude is perfect to serve as a support system and conveyor of wisdom to one of the society's clients: white men and women dealing with problems.

Aren's first client is Jason (Drew Tarver), a designer at a social media company who's just sort of in a funk. He doesn't know why, which makes Aren's role of giving advice to the guy difficult, and that's the joke here, as Aren must give his undivided attention to someone who isn't even self-aware enough to know why he's sad.

The romance develops between Aren and Lizzie (An-Li Bogan), whom he meets at a coffee shop before his first assignment (Their first scene together is adorably awkward without making a big deal of it) and who, as it turns out, also works at the company. They talk and flirt and just seem right together, and then, Jason decides he wants to date Lizzie. Roger tells Aren that has to be the end of a potential romance for him.

All things—especially the real-world issues and implications raised by the material—considered, this heads in a relatively easy, simple, and disappointing direction. The finale of The American Society of Magical Negroes includes a Big Speech (Smith sells it with emotional honesty), a couple of Big Romantic Gestures, and a final punch line that makes us wonder if Libii actually is more concerned about romantic comedies.

Back to Home

Buy Related Products