American Skin is an angry, powerful film that does suffer from being as subtle as a sledgehammer. Its capital M Message is heavy-handed and direct. But the film is also powerful, very well acted, and shot with a blunt economy. I went back and forth trying to decide if it’s a great film marred by a script full of straw men and to-the-camera moralizing. And I’d normally drop a star for being so unsubtle… but, I don’t know, maybe subtlety isn’t what this topic needs. Maybe it needs to be loud and direct.

But, still, the whole vibe of the film has this “we’re going to solve racism in this one brilliantly written flick” and that sometimes is hard to swallow. But I can’t argue it’s not wonderfully acted even as the dialog is so bluntly on-the-nose.

So… I liked the film but not without hesitation as an overthinking film fan. Maybe go in without an over analysis hat on and the fiery dialog stops being hamfisted and suddenly becomes profound. Hard to say… but I’ll still give it a high mark for having its heart in the right place (and for the acting and directing).

Score: 86