Satire doesn’t live up to premise

The “Magical Negro” trope has a long, ugly history in filmmaking. Spike Lee popularized the term back in 2001, describing a particular type of fictional Black character who exists entirely to support a white protagonist, usually with folksy words of wisdom and undefined supernatural powers. That idea is at the center of Kobi Libii’s feature debut, The American Society of Magical Negroes, which imagines a world where a secret league of Black people work together to assuage nervous white people.

A film that explores one of filmmaking’s most pervasive stereotypes is an intriguing idea, and Libii attempts to prompt big questions about race and representation. But the film, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, fails to properly grapple with the same ideas it raises.

Justice Smith stars as young artist Aren, whose only real personality traits are his love of shapeless yarn sculptures (which no one wants to buy) and his perpetual fear of taking up space. He moves through the world constantly apologizing, unable to stand up for himself. One night, after walking home from a failed art showing, he attempts to aid a drunk white woman who asks for his help with an ATM, only for her to accuse him of stealing her purse.

Fortunately, a mysterious stranger named Roger (David Alan Grier) comes to his rescue, before whisking Aren away to a top-secret society of Black people. For centuries, Roger explains, the society’s purpose has been to monitor white tears and placate uncomfortable white people by making their lives easier. Cheerful submission, he argues, is the most effective way to prevent white violence and ultimately save Black lives.  

It’s a clever and intriguing idea for a satire, and some of the film’s most successful scenes are set within the Society itself. The funniest moments are when Libii briefly parodies some of the most egregious examples of the “Magical Negro” trope, including Driving Miss Daisy, The Legend of Bagger Vance, and The Green Mile. But frustratingly, American Society loses steam as Aren gets his first assignment: helping clueless white guy Jason (The Other Two star Drew Tarver) with his job at a troubled tech startup. (The company’s CEO is, predictably, an obnoxious Elon/Zuckerberg type played by Rupert Friend.)

Soon, Aren falls into a love triangle with Jason and his charming coworker Lizzie (An-Li Bogan), and the film veers into predictable rom-com territory as Aren has to decide whether to follow his heart or stick to the society’s mission.

The mystical, satirical elements of the society don’t exactly mesh with the bland rom-com storyline, and American Society never really commits to either genre. The idea of an ancient, magical community should also offer plenty of world-building opportunities, but Libii seems largely uninterested in fleshing out his own creations. We learn a few details, like how the society is headquartered in a secret wing of Monticello and how it can be accessed via a hidden door at the back of a barbershop, but otherwise, the group’s lore is frustratingly thin. Even Aren himself lacks any sort of backstory, beyond his obsession with yarn and his constant need to apologize for himself.

There are a few solid jokes sprinkled throughout, and Smith gets one of the film’s funniest lines, where he accuses Jason of “colonizing his crush” on Lizzie. Indeed, Smith and Bogan have a warm chemistry together, and their adorable coffeeshop meet-cute is classic rom-com material. But outside of that, characters mostly speak in general platitudes about race and love, and the film’s supposedly climactic moment — when Smith finally lashes out and gives a Barbie-esque monologue about how he exists to do more than just reassure white people — comes too late to make much of an impact. American Society can’t decide whether to go full biting satire or charming rom-com, and as a result, it fails to do either genre justice. C

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