Am I Racist?

Going into this film, you must understand that star Matt Walsh–from the conservative outlet The Daily Wire–is teaming up with director Justin Folk. The two collaborated previously on What is a Woman?, in which Walsh explored gender politics and (as the title suggests) what it means to be a woman, which was received better by general audiences than the few mainstream critics who reviewed it. Now Walsh must explore society again in this new movie, made with the same mockumentary style as Borat.

Really, though, the similarities between the two end there. After all, Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedy is deliberately crude, and he is just fine with offending anyone and everyone. Walsh, on the other end of the spectrum, brings humor from the sitcom scenarios that we see here. The premise is simple: he plays himself, going on a mission to explore the woke ideologies of DEI (aka “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion”). But when people recognize him, he decides that his only option is to go undercover. He pulls his hair up into a man-bun, dons different glasses a la Clark Kent and is now welcomed into these social circles with open arms. The deeper he goes, Matt ponders whether or not his true identity has been compromised. Could he possibly be a racist?

This film is both insightful while retaining a great satirical edge. There is certainly plenty of humor to be mined from the subject matter. These scenes provide chuckles and at their best, are laugh-out-loud funny. While I won’t spoil any of the best jokes, some standouts come from his interactions with famous author Robin DiAngelo, who the film informs us was paid to “educate” him, Matt posing as a waiter during a classy dinner, and teaching students how to free themselves of their “white guilt”, using charts to illustrate their biases. There are plenty more, but you get the picture. Not every joke lands as well as the next, but then not everything here can be comedy gold.

That said, one aspect of this mockumentary that left me feeling ill-at-ease is how it was made. Specifically, all of these liberals play themselves, and signed on to be in the movie. Had they known that they would be ridiculed before watching the movie, they wouldn’t have agreed. DiAngelo was outraged at how she was portrayed, and whether or not you agree with her worldview, the way that the filmmakers deceived the cast doesn’t sit well with me. I mean, even though leaks about actors appearing in major Hollywood media surface constantly, at least they are usually honest enough to tell you that a famous celebrity will be in an upcoming production.

Is Am I Racist? worth seeing? Absolutely, even if mainstream critics initially refused to review it—much less allow the opinions of its target demographic (obviously conservatives) to be seen on social media. If this is the sort of thing that you want to check out for yourself, you should be entertained and maybe even enlightened.

101 minutes