American Fiction’s surprise entry on the Oscar’s Best Picture list is because it’s one of only a handful of comedies to have received the accolade. Few have as rapid-fire a collection of verbal and visual jokes. Written and directed by Succession alumnus Cord Jefferson, it follows Jeffrey Wright’s frustrated and faintly pretentious black writer Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, whose retelling of ancient myths were well reviewed but now struggle to find a publisher. They’re not “black” enough. In a moment of fury, he dashes off a spoof gangsta novel under the nom-de-plum Stagg R. Leigh, only to find publishers and movie producers slinging cash at his “so real” alter ego. Needing money to pay for his mother’s dementia care, he pushes his deception deep into the heart of liberal preconceptions. The jokes are constant and unexpected, but the family drama underpinning his con is moving – they all assume identities in the maelstrom of a dysfunctional clan and connection proves impossible almost to the end.