After I watched The American Society of Magical Negroes, I looked at the Rotten Tomatoes score. It was hovering around 31%, and I was surprised, because I thought it was much better than that.

According to IMDB, “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.“

Justice Smith played Aren and he is really great. The charisma from Smith really carried a lot of this movie. I also enjoyed the performance of David Alan Grier, who played Roger, a member of the Society who recruited Aren. Grier and Smith worked very well together.

The story is pretty basic, and the film did intend to be a commentary on the race relations of the nation. It does have its moments, but it feels too surface for a really difficult issue. It had a lot of potential to really be a satire of the racial division of the country, but the film did not take advantage of its premise. However, Justice Smith did have a monologue in the third act that was probably the best part of the movie and did contain more than the rest of the film.

Overall, I found this to be quite funny at times and I did like Justice Smith very much. It was a creative idea that could have really done more. I did find more enjoyment in the film than parts I felt were lacking, so this is a borderline recommendation.

3.3 stars