Review: Dear White People
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
City Paper grade: B+
The rare college comedy of the non-idiotic variety, writer/director Justin Simien’s debut is built around a simple sociopolitical suggestion: People shouldn’t be defined by their views. That he's compelled to make such a feature-length assertion is a grim sign for the United States of Polarization, but Dear White People isn’t out to revamp racial discourse — it’s content pointing out how ineffectual “real talk” can be when nobody’s really listening.
Inspired by his own studies at California’s Chapman University, Simien keys in on a quartet of African-American undergrads at fictional Winchester, a snooty school run on old money and leftist self-satisfaction. Though the Wes Anderson-like title cards that introduce the ivy-draped stage and its churlish chorus scream cutesy satire, it's much more character-driven than that.
Textbook militant Sam (Tessa Thompson) organizes protests and shuns the hypocrisy of other black students who aren’t quite as conscious. ("It's like Spike Lee and Oprah had some sort of pissed-off baby," muses one white classmate.) Golden boy Troy (Brandon P. Bell), head of the historically black residence hall, is a sharp student and expert schmoozer, forever concerned with pleasing his dean of students daddy (Dennis Haysbert). Introverted writer Lionel (Tyler James Williams) struggles to find a voice while tolerating clueless white girls playing with his Afro. Hopeful TV star Coco (Teyonah Parris) makes every effort to conceal her humble upbringing, afraid it'll hold her back.
The movie could easily have played out with these four dawdling in their corners, but Simien, with preternatural dexterity, manages to showcase how each is more than the sum of their external explorations. The offensive on-campus party that brings them together tests their tolerance for bullshit, but they don’t just come out on the other side as enlightened souls. Instead, they’re each placed in difficult positions complicated by questions of identity and expectation. Simien has a skill for capturing the tone of people so scared of speaking out of turn that they end up saying things they don’t believe. Dear White People doesn’t offer solutions, but it should spark better conversations.
