Movie review
September 13, 2024 · 101 min · PG-13
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
Matt Walsh stars in this 2024 satirical documentary comedy. He goes undercover as a bumbling white DEI trainee who gets certified as an expert. He then uses hidden cameras to film real consultants and activists in trainings, workshops, and money-making schemes. The film presents race-focused programs and identity-based consulting as absurd, divisive, and often driven by profit rather than real solutions.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Am I Racist?.
Woke representation / casting
The film documents real people of various backgrounds in DEI consultant and activist roles, including women and minorities in visible positions, but these appearances serve the critique of the industry rather than any push for positive identity representation or quotas.
Woke political dialogue
Real DEI experts express standard ideas about white fragility, systemic racism, decentering whiteness, and ongoing equity work, yet the hidden-camera format and overall structure present these statements as examples of overreach and self-interest.
Identity-driven story themes
Race and racial identity form the central focus as the film examines how identity frameworks fuel trainings, certifications, and consulting fees, framing that emphasis as a hustle rather than a solution.
Western institutional / cultural critique
DEI programs are shown spreading through corporations, schools, and culture in ways that create division and prioritize identity over merit, presented as a problem rather than an activist deconstruction of Western institutions or traditions.
Production
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Criticism of the film comes mainly from progressive sources calling it right-wing propaganda or divisive; no meaningful complaints treat the movie as promoting woke, DEI, or identity-politics messaging.
Creator track record context
The core team from Daily Wire and Matt Walsh has a clear pattern of conservative commentary and documentaries that challenge progressive identity politics, gender ideology, and related cultural movements.
