Reviews for American Fiction
Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press:
Jeffrey Wright’s Thelonious “Monk” Ellison is at the end of his rope at the beginning of American Fiction…
[…]
Monk’s books, smart as they are, don’t [sell] — until one drunken night he writes a parody of the kind of Black novel he hates, under a pseudonym, and suddenly becomes a sensation.
Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times:
In American Fiction, Wright is accorded the relatively rare opportunity to take the lead, and he delivers a richly layered performance that reminds us he’s one of the best actors of his generation.
Peyton Robinson, RogerEbert.com:
Wright gives an incredible, nuanced performance, nailing Monk’s swallowed feelings and the emotions bubbling beneath his intellectualized, repressed responses.
Wright is commanding in the lead role, and he has fantastic chemistry with all of the cast.
Wright’s turn in particular, as the sad sack who has both a point and his own respectability hangups, lingers in the mind. Monk is a guy who’s so sure he has seen it all that he can’t acknowledge his own blind spots.
[In 1996], it seemed like Wright might go on to be acclaimed as his generation's Robert de Niro. So there is some irony in the fact that he may finally get the appreciation his talents deserve by playing a weary African-American author fighting back against the unconscious bias that has stopped his career from reaching greater heights.
Capturing Jeffrey Wright trying to eat an olive is one of the reasons the camera was invented.