Sight Unseen Pictures
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The American Society of Magical Negroes
Saving the damn world.
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.
- Original title
- The American Society of Magical Negroes
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- $2,480,645
r96sk
Apr 22, 2025 · via TMDB
<em>'The American Society of Magical Negroes'</em> is hit-and-miss. I wasn't disliking it all that much, though when the credits rolled I kinda didn't have anything majorly noteworthy to think about it. Like the score is genuinely ace and the cast are alright, but that's it. It's pretty forgettable (as a movie anyway, because that title isn't!), is what it boils down to. The well intentioned messaging comes across as a bit heavy-handed, as it only really dishes out pretty obvious sentiments. With that said, it can be a tad amusing (<em>'The Green Mile'</em> got a chuckle out of me, intentionally or otherwise) in short spells. David Alan Grier plays his role well though, he is an actor I like. Justice Smith is decent, I'm yet to overly like any performance of his but fine he is. An-Li Bogan stands out most from the rest. To be honest, they could've just had a fully fledged romcom with Smith and Bogan, it probably would've worked nicely. I did like the (presumed totally unintended) vibes of <em>'The Adjustment Bureau'</em> in this. Despite the clear differences it isn't actually terribly dissimilar to that favourite film of mine, what with a group of magical agents controlling a population amongst added romance.
CinemaSerf
May 1, 2024 · via TMDB
I think that for satire to work, you have to be able to ensure that the audience is on board with the underlying premiss it's trying to achieve. Despite a decent effort from Justice Smith's "Aren" (and his impressive collection of knitwear) I just wasn't. Relying on long forgotten (if, indeed, they were ever actually known in the first place) tropes about racial stereotyping - and not just those from an African American point of view, makes this actually quite an offensive film to watch. Perhaps I am overthinking it, but I found absolutely nothing here with which I could relate - sarcastically or otherwise. The comedy, such as it is, is entirely contrived and the romantic elements between "Aren", "Lizzie" (An-Li Bogan) and "Jason" (Drew Tarver) are badly written and frequently cringe-makingly acted out. Peppering the thing with a few "Harry Potter" style magical effects and adding the benign characterisation of "Barber" (Aaron Colman) so that this "Society" can spend their entire time trying to "fix" the problems of their hapless and hopelessly out of their emotional depth white contemporaries just falls flat. It simply isn't funny. If a load of white folk got together and decided to make a movie about a group of innately obsequious and subservient non-white people, it would (and should) be banned. This is a clumsy and unfunny reinforcement of flawed values seen from an wholly unrealistic perspective and I struggled to sit through it, then wondered just why I bothered. Maybe it will resonate if you are American? I hope not.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
Spectrum On Demand
Justice Smith
Aren
David Alan Grier
Roger
An-Li Bogan
Lizzie
Drew Tarver
Jason Munt
Michaela Watkins
Masterson
Aisha Hinds
Gabbard
Tim Baltz
Officer Miller
Rupert Friend
Mick
Nicole Byer
DeDe
Zachary Barton
Collector #2
Anthony Coons
Collector #3
Gillian Vigman
Andrea
Mia Ford
Lacey
Eric Lutz
Brad
Kees DeVos
Ryan
Aaron Coleman
Barber
Chase Ryan Jeffery
Beau
Moe Irvin
James "Jim" Crampton (as Moe Irvin)
Ethan Herisse
Dashawn
Nozipho McLean
Lily
Isayas Theodros
Antoine (as Isayas J. Theodros)
Gregory James Cohan
Guard (as Greg Cohan)
Gregor Manns
"Big" Marcus Dunham
Reginald James
Operator #2
Jeremiah Birkett
Jerel
Aaron Jennings
Kwame
Vinny DeGennaro
Bouncer
Bianca Crudo
Claire
Chris Attoh
Ghanaian Businessperson
Michael Andrew Baker
Farmer
Floyd Anthony Johns Jr.
Brutus
Girvan 'Swirv' Bramble
Kyle
Farelle Walker
Tonya
April McCullough
Brittany
Aaron Becker
Main Title Designer
Doug Emmett
Director of Photography
Brian Duffy
Stunt Coordinator
Darrell Davis
Utility Stunts
Rene Mousseux
Utility Stunts
Kobi Libii
Director
Oren Moverman
Executive Producer
Kobi Libii
Producer
Michael Abels
Original Music Composer
Laurent Kossayan
Sound Re-Recording Mixer
Kobi Libii
Writer
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