One Night in Miami has the ambitious idea of placing four iconic African Americans in a motel room and letting the drama flow. Set in 1964 after Cassius Clay (soon to be Muhammad Ali) wins his heavyweight belt, he meets up with spiritual advisor and buddy Malcom X. Along for the party are NFL (and future film star) Jim Brown and singer/songwriter/entrepreneur Sam Cooke.

Together, the four have long conversations about blackness in America and how they each contribute (or don’t contribute) to the struggle. Clay has just converted to Islam but is worried about announcing it to the world. Malcom X is annoyed his friend Sam Cooke is too focused on white audiences while Cooke wants him to know he’s his own boss, owns his own music, and produces records for other black artists. Jim Brown is dealing with being a superstar but still a black man… and whether or not he should retire from the game and become his own man as a movie star.

The film feels very much like the filmed version of a stage play (and it is). Very focused on conversations between the four men or splitting them up in different ways to have one-on-one scenes. It’s very good drama and very well acted, though I personally only recognized Leslie Odom Jr. (from Hamilton) as Sam Cooke (and Lance Reddick as a Nation of Islam bodyguard, stationed outside the door). All four men though play their parts well, especially Eli Goree playing Cassius Clay (who is, as we know, just too pretty).

These dialog scenes are very good, very challenging, and very introspective and (seemingly) honest. I can’t help but think though there’s a certain lack of overall cohesion in their themes. Sometimes it feels like it nails the dynamics of being a successful black man in America and sometimes it just feels like the dialog isn’t particularly going anywhere or making a point. I think if there was overall a bit more power and overarching themes, it’d have scored higher. But it doesn’t score low since none of it’s boring and its all well acted.

So this is a pretty strong recommendation even if it’s not quite a major home run. I was surprised to see it was directed by Regina King, which probably should be a surprise but, in that it is, says a lot about women of color in Hollywood. So good on her for landing the director’s chair and good on her for filming dialog scenes with such crackling energy.

Score: 86