A satirical film that aims to send a provocative message about race relations The ticket office was bombed on opening weekend.
Focus Features’ “The Magical Negro Society of America” opened in 1,147 locations across the United States and took ninth place last weekend with $1,304,270.
The film centers on a young man who is scouted to be part of a “society” where black people use magical powers to keep white people comfortable and to keep black people from hurting them.
The film’s title plays on the trope of the film’s black characters being set up to aid the pursuits of white characters, like Michael Clarke Duncan’s character in “The Green Mile.” According to reviews From the Los Angeles Times.
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Also from the “Magical Negro Association of America.” (Source: Focus Features via YouTube)
In the trailer, the main character Allen, played by Justice Smith, learns that in order for the secret society to maintain its magical powers, it must put the needs of white people before its own.
David Alan Grier’s character “Roger” explains to Allen that white people are “the most dangerous animals on earth” when they are uncomfortable.
“That’s why we fight white malaise every day. Because the happier they are, the safer we are,” he says in one scene in the theatrical trailer. .
Society members also use the “White Tears” grief barometer to track white discomfort in movies.
The film received poor reviews from critics, earning only 31% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
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The characters in “The Magical Negro Society of America” can see a magical barometer-like device for measuring white discomfort labeled “white tears.” (Featured feature via YouTube)
Even critics who were sympathetic to the film’s political message said it did not get across.
Film critic Carlos Aguilar criticized the film, calling it “too timid to be a satirical blow.”
“The film’s predictably discursive solution, with Allen literally getting on stage and telling the truth, ultimately renders the sociopolitical critique mild and trivial, and the truly incendiary.” “It was a disappointing outcome for a premise that had the potential to become…” he wrote in the Los Angeles Times.
washington post film critic Michael O’Sullivan was also dissatisfied with the film, calling it “an overly bloody satire trying to please”.
“Allen’s satisfying flashes of anger make “The Magical Negro Society of America” momentarily real; otherwise, like Allen, the film itself feels at times overly reverent. “It’s as if they’re trying to make people comfortable when they want to squirm, at least a little,” he wrote.
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