American Fiction: to his credit, writer-director Cord Jefferson hardly believes, like his protagonist, that there is any subtlety in this light satire. However, the fact that it is earnestly heavy-handed doesn’t make the story of the Black writer who writes a pandering novel as a joke any more engaging. The film has two distinct parts, the second being the relationship the protagonist has with his family, and that part is more interesting and touching. That may well be on purpose, considering the idea behind the satire, but that still doesn’t make the whole more engaging. The acting is solid, but not quite spectacular: the ever-reliable Jeffrey Wright is very good as the angry man; Sterling K. Brown, as his complicated brother, is also quite good. The best of the bunch is actually Myra Lucretia Taylor, who plays the old housemaid of their household. Aesthetically, the film is efficient but unremarkable.