Not being able to relate to people isn't a badge of honor.

American Fiction — 4/5

So much of this is small delights. Generally hilarious in the tiny little moments between people. I worried about a comedy starring Jeffrey Wright, as he is an act-or, but the role is built around what he's capable of. He is the intellectual elite and ineffective. He is out of place. Not struggling to fit in, because he has no interest in fitting in. His struggle is how easily he could fit in if he stopped being himself. It's sharply written; it cuts small and it cuts big and it cuts easily. (My cultural bedrock is Gawker, and I celebrate every former writer's current success, so I get excited whenever I see Cord Jefferson's name attached to things.) And then it just kind of disassembles at the end? Intentionally not having an ending isn't my preferred ending. I think at the end, it got caught up in itself being a big idea movie, when really it's a movie about the small thing of being human—not about who we are, but who we allow ourselves to be, and how that impression reverberates to encompass all of your kind, allowing for no diversity. Sintara nails it with "Potential is what people see when they think what's in front of them isn't good enough." That was the ending for Monk to contend with; not how to end the movie, but how to grow. If I were to rationalize the ending—and I want to, because I really enjoyed the easy charm of this movie!!!—I think the multiple endings act as a litmus test for your own tastes. What are you interested in? The ambiguity? The romance? The sensationalist comedy? Ultimately, you make art for what's interesting to you, and you hope that someone, ultimately, receives it as intended; interested in your art, and then you, as they are both the same.