Most Critics Are Refusing to Review ‘Am I Racist?'

Having just come back from TIFF, where I saw 40 movies in 7 days, I still haven’t seen Matt Walsh’s much talked about “Am I Racist?”

Walsh’s doc was the biggest surprise at the weekend box-office — it opened in fourth place with an estimated $4.8M from 1,517 locations. It’s the biggest opening of the year for a documentary. Many of the tickets were sold in conservative markets, but there was also an impressive haul in the Northeast.

The film, which only cost $3M to make, has been described as a mockumentary in the style of “Borat,” and follows Walsh as he goes undercover as a "bumbling DEI trainee" attending anti-racism workshops and interviewing DEI experts. It’s become such a hot button movie that a few theatre owners are being targeted with threats from activists. One of those theaters, based in California, went as far to cancel the movie following complaints from locals (who hadn’t even seen it).

Much like last year’s “Sound of Freedom,” Walsh’s doc is a ticking time bomb of outrage waiting to happen. It’s come to the point where, despite its commercial success, “Am I Racist?” only has seven reviews logged in on Rotten Tomatoes (all positive). There’s also not a single review on its Metacritic page. Major outlets like Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times and Deadline have all opted not to review “Am I Racist?”

And yet, audiences seem to love the film. Its Rotten Tomatoes audience score currently sits at 99 percent “fresh.” The movie’s CinemaScore is an “A” rating.

Apparently, popular YouTuber Jeremy Jahns, one of the few critics who reviewed the film, is getting harassed with threats. There’s been a major pile-on that’s resulted in Jahns losing subscribers, being called a “racist,” and all simply because he reviewed the movie.

I’m sure part of the reason for the critics boycott is to delegitimize Daily Wire, which is the studio behind this film. The same thing happened last year with Angel Studios’ “Sound of Freedom,” where there were barely any reviews during the first few weeks of its run, that is until it was too big a hit to ignore, and critics started chiming in. Will the same thing happen with “Am I Racist?” ? I’m not so sure about that.

Isn’t art supposed to be critiqued? It’s on critics to decide and share with their readers whether a film is worth seeing. If you don’t like a movie then be fair and be constructive in your review. Let the reader know where you thought the filmmaker fell short, at least spark some kind of conversation instead of ignoring the damn thing.

I’m not saying YOU should have to watch the film, or even give it a review, but f you call yourself a critic, then do your job, review this movie, spark debate, outrage, or whatever. If you want to give it a bad review, then give it a bad review, but at least review the damn thing.