Orion Pictures and MGM revealed the official trailer for American Fiction, the award-winning comedy drama film starring Jeffrey Wright, based on the novel Erasure by Percival Everett.

Also starring in the film are Tracee Ellis Ross, John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Adam Brody, Keith David, with Issa Rae and Sterling K. Brown

Release Date

Directed by Cord Jefferson, American Fiction world premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People’s Choice Award; and will be released in select theaters on December 15, expanding December 22.

Synopsis

American Fiction is Cord Jefferson’s hilarious directorial debut, which confronts our culture’s obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a frustrated novelist who’s fed up with the establishment profiting from “Black” entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, Monk uses a pen name to write an outlandish “Black” book of his own, a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.

Reviews

Grading the film 4 of 5 stars, in their review Guardian wrote, “With American Fiction, Cord Jefferson crafts a hilarious and withering satire about an African American novelist chafing against an industry that limits Black storytelling to trauma and poverty narratives.”

“Jefferson adapts Percival Everett’s 2001 novel Erasure, weaving its parodic take on media, which is sadly just as relevant today, into a thorny existential character drama about a writer who feels unseen and yet never makes himself vulnerable enough for people to truly see him. Wright is note-perfect as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison. He’s the professor who pulls a Bamboozled by cynically writing a novel so filled with pandering cliches and tropes about Black struggle that salivating white gatekeepers line up to make it a sensational hit. The success does little to alter Monk’s disgruntled and bewildered state.”

IndieWire gave the film a B+ review, writing, ‘The film fares better as a family drama, anchored by funny and extremely charismatic performances from Wright, Brown, and Alexander. Brown is especially hilarious as a man going through some very significant mid-life changes. In a cinematic landscape dominated by white-centric dramedies, “American Fiction” feels like a breath of fresh air. Veteran actresses Uggams and Taylor are both given time to shine, and their presence gives the film its emotional core. And though her role is somewhat small, Ross gives a warm, memorable performance.”

Official Trailer

Watch the official trailer for American Fiction.