Wonderful World (2009) by Joshua Goldin

★★★½

Last night, I rented Wonderful World, a funny film for thinkers, starring Matthew Broderick and Sanaa Lathan. Broderick plays Ben, a divorced pothead cynic who ceaselessly rails against "The Man." When his radiant, chess-playing Senegalese roommate Ibu (Michael Kenneth Williams) falls into a diabetic coma, Ben opens up his home to Ibu's visiting sister Khadi (Lathan). Patient, pretty and effortlessly seductive, Khadi spends her limited days in the U.S. dressing colorfully, indulging in a selfless sneaker-shopping spree, leaning into her brother's hospital bed and sensually casting healing spells. Urgent romance ensues and tensions around class/culture/citizenship result in a merited slap. It's an unexpected take on the romantic comedy. Child actress Jodelle Ferland plays Ben's possibly lesbian daughter with Wednesday Addams-like adorability. There's even a touching scene where the sky rains fish!

I must admit, I winced when Khadi cooed, "The Senegalese love to dance," then broke out into an unwarranted and exoticized boogie in the middle of dude's sparsely furnished bachelor pad. But this time, the female interracial love interest isn't a blue feline creature from a distant planet. Like Neytiri, Khadi is fierce, protective, inexplicably supportive and invested in saving the hero...But she's human. I'll take human. Human's good. 

Overall, Wonderful World left me in a positive mood. It's cute, compelling, well-shot, well-written and well worth seeing.