Am I Racist? - Matt Walsh's Hilarious Take on DEI, Racism and Reparations
In 2024, you don't need to be a professional stand-up comedian to make side-splitting comedy. As Matt Walsh proves in his latest political documentary Am I Racist?, sometimes all you need is a mirror. No one is better at holding up that mirror than Walsh, arguably one of the funniest non-comedians on the planet.
Am I Racist? is Walsh's follow-up to the 2022 Daily Wire hit ‘What is a Woman?‘ - a film in which he ingeniously took down radical gender theory with a single "unanswerable" question and a comedic deadpan delivery so unshakable it defies explanation. His latest film sees him take a similar approach, generating laughs simply by holding up a mirror to the Left and letting them write jokes in earnest while unknowingly making themselves the punchline.
‘Am I Racist?’ manages to set up a pretty fun story arc for a political documentary in which Walsh goes on a journey to become a certified DEI instructor and come to grips with his "whiteness." After a disastrous attempt to join an anti-racist struggle session that ends with him being outed as a right-wing infiltrator and having the police hilariously called on him, he then goes undercover as a professional anti-racist, complete with a hilariously-inadequate-yet-somehow-it-still-works disguise of a pair of glasses and a fake man-bun. Let the hilarity commence!
The film shines when Walsh gives his radical interviewees room to breathe and articulate their goofy beliefs. It's the kind of comedy a comedian couldn't even write. This was done to great effect in Walsh's first film, but unfortunately less so here. Here, instead of playing the straight man, Walsh hams it up as his "anti-racist" alter ego, sometimes engaging in antics that force the film to rely on his comedic acting rather than the insanity of critical theory and DEI. At times he's so over the top with his antics and his sarcasm is so thinly veiled you can sense his target's guard is up, and I wonder how much more gold he would've gotten from them had he played it straighter.
That said, the film is still a hilarious and shocking exposé of Leftist racism, filled with "did this woman actually just say what I thought she said?" moments and even some laugh-out-loud slapstick from Walsh. My favorite portion of the film, however, was a surprisingly inspiring scene about halfway through the film in which he interviews people in biker bars and service stations, rednecks and normies the Left might dismiss as "dullards" and "racists" who offered refreshing homespun wisdom and common sense that contrasted sharply with the peer-reviewed insanity of the college-educated Left. It was the "midwit meme" in real life. Watching that scene proved there's still a core of goodness left in America that gives me hope for the country.
Overall, this film was a great time and worth every penny spent on a movie ticket. It was informative and hilarious. I encourage everyone to support it while it's still in theaters. We need more of this kind of thing, and supporting it with our wallets will go a long way toward ensuring we see more of it.
The grand finale, an interview with White Fragility author Robin DiAngelo, is just too good to spoil here. You have to see it to believe it.
The film is well-directed by Justin Folk, who also directed What is a Woman? It is rated PG-13 and is in theaters now.