In culture, the “Magical Negro” signifies a Black character who exists solely to help whites realize their dreams and potential. 2024’s The American Society of Magical Negroes takes this concept and makes it a reality.

Aren (Justice Smith) struggles to make his name as an artist. After a failed showing, he meets Roger (David Alan Grier), a mysterious stranger who comes with a surprising offer.

Roger recruits Aren to join the American Society of Magical Negroes, a group who work to placate white people mainly to control hostility toward Blacks. Aren accepts and embraces the job until his romantic interest in Lizzie (An-Li Bogan) conflicts with his mission to assist Jason (Drew Tarver).

I wouldn’t claim to be some expert in race relations. However, as a thoroughly white dude who’s worked more than 30 years in a job where most of my colleagues are Black, I suspect I come to these topics with a different POV than most of my pale peers.

While it seems popular in some circles to believe that “white privilege” doesn’t exist, my experiences clearly indicate otherwise. In particular, my interactions with Black colleagues and friends tell me how they confront the world in a totally different way than I do because the world treats them differently right off the bat.

The basic premise of Society offers ample room to confront these social issues and the movie does so – sort of. While it puts its heart in the right place, it can seem a bit on the toothless side.

Which seems ironic. Much of Society looks at how a white-dominated USA demands that Blacks remain in the background and never seem aggressive or assertive.

Rather than confront these issues in a more forceful manner, Society seems to adopt the exact traits that it wants to banish. The subject matter certainly leaves ample room for a bracing approach to the topics, but instead, it feels soft too much of the time.

I guess that writer/director Kobi Libii preferred a “spoonful of sugar” approach to the more “in your face” attitude another filmmaker might choose. I do understand why this might make sense, but it still feels like the gentle approach to the concepts goes against the movie’s overriding message.

That said, Society succeeds as a “starter kit” in terms of how it introduces some audiences to the existence of white privilege and the marginalization of Blacks in so much of our culture. While I think it needs to advocate for itself more strongly, it nonetheless entertains and makes good points along the way.

Smith offers a likable presence and seems like a good fit for the role. He suits Aren as written and adds dimensionality to a somewhat thin character.

The other parts tend to feel one-note, and this particularly impacts Jason. The movie turns him into such a standard issue frat boy sort that he doesn’t give the movie much range.

But again, Society rarely attempts to be more than a gentle lecture on the nature of white privilege and its impact on Blacks. The movie becomes a decent exploration of these domains but not one with a lot of real punch or depth.

The American Society of Magical Negroes appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The film came with an excellent image.

Sharpness looked nice. No real softness emerged, so the flick remained accurate and concise.

No concerns with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and edge enhancement remained absent. Source flaws also failed to create problems.

In terms of colors, Society opted for a mix of orange/amber and teal, though we got a smidgen of purple as well. Within those constraints, the hues felt well-reproduced.

Blacks were deep and firm, while shadows showed good delineation. Overall, this was a highly pleasing presentation.

I thought that the DTS-HD MA 7.1 soundtrack of Society seemed fine but it didn’t excel because of a lack of ambition. Given the nature of the story, the movie featured a limited soundfield that favored the forward channels. It showed nice stereo spread to the music as well as some general ambience from the sides.

Panning was fine, and the surrounds usually kicked in basic reinforcement. A few scenes opened up better, though, like those related to the character’s magic. However, most of the movie stayed with limited imaging.

Audio quality appeared good. Speech was natural and distinct, with no issues related to edginess or intelligibility. Effects sounded clean and accurate, with good fidelity and no signs of distortion.

Music was perfectly fine, as the score and songs showed positive dimensionality. This track was good enough for a “B“ but didn’t particularly impress.

A few extras appear, and we get an audio commentary from writer/director Kobi Libii. He offers a running, screen-specific discussion of story, characters, and themes, cast and performances, sets and locations, effects and visual design, music and audio, and connected topics.

Overall, Libii offers a pretty solid chat. He covers a good array of domains so outside of occasional lulls, this turns into a quality overview.

Three featurettes follow, and Secret Society Members goes for five minutes, 20 seconds. It brings info from Libii, producers Eddie Vaisman, Angel Lopez and Julia Lebedev, and actors Justice Smith, An-Li Bogan, David Alan Grier, Nicole Byer and Drew Tarver.

“Members” examines the movie’s themes as well as cast and performances. We get lots of happy talk but few insights.

Crafting a Magical Society runs four minutes, 14 seconds. It features Libii, Smith, Grier, director of photography Doug Emmett, production designer Laura Fox, and costume designer Derica Cole Washington.

Here we get notes about cinematography, sets and locations, and costumes. It becomes a decent little take on those domains.

Finally, Speaking Your Truth spans four minutes, 14 seconds. This one delivers info from Libii, Smith, Bogan, Byer, and Grier.

“Truth” gets into the project’s origins and development, themes and tone. We find a couple useful thoughts along with a lot of self-congratulation.

As an attempt to mock Hollywood tropes, The American Society of Magical Negroes comes with potential. However, it lacks the bite it needs to really click. The Blu-ray comes with excellent visuals, good audio and a mix of supplements. While the movie offers decent entertainment, its relative softness means it disappoints.