Dear White People' review, starring Tessa Thompson, Tyler James Williams and Dennis Haysbert

In its own distinctive way, Dear White People lets you know that it means business. If one were somehow able to avoid the ferocity of its eye-catching title, the movie wastes no time letting you know that our society is racially askew. Whether or not you’re ready, it is going to pound on the door and let you hear its battle cry, and its all the better for it.
A social satire centered, primarily, on the lives on four black college students trying to determine their identity in their prestigious Ivy League college, Winchester University, Dear White People examines how African-American identity is still misconnected in a post-Obama era. In a time when society believes racism and prejudices are no longer problems for the black community, there’s a passion inside writer-director Justin Simien’s feature debut that feels raw and vital. The movie is made better with its bitterness not being off-putting and its identity feeling needed.
Simien’s film is a rare comedy whose bite reaches its laughs, and the two cooperate rather than concede. It’s just a shame that, when it comes to identifying its story, Simien feels the need to boggle everything down with relationship issues and petty-feeling problems. It’s clear that the movie’s social commentary is where it feels most invigorated. But its sense of place often feels outweighed by its incessant need to create character arc, only to bring everything to a halt with tired story tropes.
Character dynamics are never a problem for Dear White People. Its sense of self surprisingly blends well with its characters struggles. As a comedy on identity and establishing one’s personality for and against society’s desires, the film has a clear focus and never loses sight of it. Even when Dear White People feels just a little too self-congratulatory, it still finds a way to make itself push buttons in a manner that’s pressing but honest. It never feels pretentious or overbearing because its message is so honest and sincere.
It’s clear that Simien’s talents are more apparent in his writing than directing at the moment, but his script is as relevant and timely as a comedy could be today. As a thesis on racial oppression and speaking out, Dear White People feels like a 45-minute movie stretched into a hour-and-a-half feature film. Coming from a predominately short film background, Simien dis-serves himself by lacking his confidence he has in its message in his narrative storytelling.
Rather than explore characters motivations in a groundbreaking manner, Simien feels comfortable allowing the characters to expand their woes in typical linear fashion. Its predictability is made all the more apparent by its overstretched running time.
Still, even with his camera work and sound design feeling a little questionable, Simien clearly has a talent for helming strong performances. The strongest of this bunch is Tessa Thompson, playing the movie’s tepid protagonist Sam White. Thompson’s boldness and envelope pushing never feels overdone or overbearing, making Dear White People’s message all the more apparent. While the movie only teases at Sam’s identity crisis, her subtle struggles feel honest and appropriate, even if they feel a little forced from a screenwriting perspective.
Not equally as strong but just as justified are the performances from Brandon P. Bell and Teyonah Parris, as Troy and Coco, respectively. They astute a sense of personality grounding the movie’s complexities in an equally approachable and realistic manner, with their moral unsettling made more striking by Dennis Haysbert’s respectably thoughtful performance as their dean.
The only performance that lacks full confidence is Tyler James Williams, who, as Lionel Higgins, seems confused as to how to approach his oddball and shy character. It’s not as though he drags the movie down, but his performance lacks the furiousness of his peers. It’s a different kind of character, understandably, but Lionel still feels undistinguished at times to make its full impact. It’s a shame that his character is as prevalent to the story as the others, if not more so.
It’ll be interesting to see where Simien takes himself past his debut. As he clearly has an outspoken voice, and a distinct one at that, and his message in Dear White People is one that needs to be heard. At times, it feels as though he may be putting all of his eggs into this basket, failing to leave any room for future endeavors. But if that is not the case, then he clearly has room to expand and grow. Even if he is a little too self-satisfied, his voice is unheard and important. If this is just what he provides in a debut, then he is going to make quite the impression in films to come.