By Steve Crum

Let us channel 1982’s Tootsie, a great film that involves identification and perception. Now consider 2023’s American Fiction, which involves the same elements explored in a vastly different construct. In Tootsie, Dustin Hoffman’s out-of-work actor, Michael Dorsey, disguises himself as Dorothy Michaels, and becomes a hit actress on a TV soap opera. Michael needed an acting job with good money, so he went for it—despite ensuing complications.

Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, wonderfully played by Jeffrey Wright, is the central character in Director-Writer Cord Jefferson’s comedy-drama American Fiction. Unlike Tootsie’s Michael, Monk is already a making an OK living as a University English professor in Los Angeles. He supplements his income with writing novels that have gotten more critical acclaim than best selling bucks. 

Then he faces a dilemma of having to support his dementia diagnosed mother Agnes (Leslie Uggams—yes, the singer-actress) in assisted care. Monk is in real financial stress when his sister Lisa (Tracy Ellis Ross) suddenly dies. Now what? He can’t support his mom by himself. And his estranged brother Clifford (Sterling K. Brown) is so distant that he is barely a family member. Again, now what? 

So goes American Fiction’s backstory. But, like in Tootsie, meeting a challenge can follow a unique pathway. Exasperated that he even considers it, Monk and his publisher decide to get radical. To meet popular demand, he lowers his literary standards to write a tacky novel filled with stereotypical black gangsters, violence, drugs, and as much crass language as feasible. He even changes the author’s name to Stagg R. Leigh. Downhearted and thinking no publisher would ever buy his new manuscript, due to its “garbage” nature, he even uses an obscene verb as the novel’s title. The book hooks big time! 

There is much more to it as publicity momentum grows and everyone wants to interview the new Monk, “Stagg.” THAT is but one wild and fun element to American Fiction. Monk’s family alone is worth the 117 minutes to watch. That includes his relationship with a new neighbor, Coraline (Erika Alexander). 

American Fiction is a beautifully layered combination of family values, public tastes, personal relationships, stereotypes, and prejudices. Add laughs, tears, and love.

It evolves into an unexpected tale of story-within-a-story, which will have viewers pondering and wowing at film’s end. 

I still am. 

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GRADE on an A-F Scale: A