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Kobi Libii’s satirical comedy “The Magical Negro American Society” begins in an art gallery where people mill around. A young black man attempts to walk through the crowd, constantly apologizing and avoiding gallery goers. He acts as if he feels in the way and out of place. But as we learn when he arrives at his own thread installation, he is one of the artists whose work is for sale.
The scene says a lot with a little, has comic rhythms but ends up deflated thanks to the art dealer’s ruthless reaction to this distrust. However, the behavior of young artist Aren (the enormously talented Justice Smith) is exactly what catches the attention of a show bartender, Roger (David Alan Grier), who hides a secret identity. He cites the film’s title, which turns the cinematic trope of the “Magical Negro” character into a mission statement: Roger belongs to an elite group charged with eliminating white discomfort and making them feel better about themselves.
Roger recruits Aren, and within moments, they’re helping the whites overcome their anxieties in one fell swoop. The premise of Libii is based on the reasoning that “the happier they are, the safer we are,” as Roger says. When he and Aren appease a disgruntled white cop by helping him into a nightclub, it seems clear that what’s at stake involves the threat of racial violence, though these ideas prove challenging to explore in a film that leans toward romantic comedy.
Aren’s big assignment is to go undercover at a tech company and find a coworker, Jason (Drew Tarver), who is feeling down for a couple of reasons. He’s hit a dead end at work and is nice to his superior, Lizzie (An-Li Bogan), but he barely seems to know it. Aren must help Jason realize his dreams while he represses his own: Aren and Lizzie have already flirted, promisingly enough, in a tender early encounter scene.
Libii’s story underscores the self-denial involved in the title trope and ridicules the expectations and limitations placed on black people in countless ways. The American Society of Magical Negroes has a hideout where Aren and other agents receive training in scenarios that echo the selfless aid plots of “The Green Mile” and “The Legend of Bagger Vance.”
But Libii’s narration softens the sting of criticism of such stories, as when Spike Lee harshly criticized “Bagger Vance,” set in 1930s Georgia, saying it was “more concerned about improving Matt Damon’s golf swing” than about the lynchings that were taking place at that time in the South.
Instead, this film’s satire embraces the fantastical mold of secret superhero powers and intrigue: Aren and Roger are capable of real magic, such as teleportation, spells, and the ability to read a “white tears”indicator of sadness that is invisible to white “clients.” The society’s formidable leader, DeDe (Nicole Byer), even floats above the ground when she addresses the members. “Key & Peele” helped pave the way here with a sketch from 2012 in which two older black men find themselves speaking words of wisdom to the same sad white man and proceed to fight each other with bursts of energy.
Libii highlights the racist structure of the “magical negro” trope by showing how Jason and the other clients of society are intolerant to varying degrees. They may feel better, but they are not really trying to become better people. Aren’s misery only grows as he lends a sympathetic ear to Jason’s devious justifications for his entitlement.
But even as the film satirizes one trope, it still retreats into other conventions in ways that undermine the pop of its premise and make you long for greater depth to its thought experiments. A creaky rule of the fantasy genre dictates that members of society lose their powers when one of them puts their self-esteem first, which is what Aren begins to do. Then rom-com tropes take over, with Aren speaking his heart out and running through the streets, in ways that muddle some of the film’s uncomfortable implications.
Libii faced premature criticism last year for her film’s trailer (and any social satire may now have higher expectations in the wake of “Barbie”). But the movie has its flaws: slackness in key scenes and the fact that Aren in the lead could definitely benefit from more detail of any kind (or friends outside of work, or a glimpse of the on-screen family).
It’s a pleasure to watch Smith’s nimble performance that almost doesn’t matter, but it’s fair to say this film could have gone even further with its bold set-up.
The American Society of Magical Negroes
Rated PG-13. Duration: 1 hour 44 minutes. On cinemas.