Breaking News in Yuba County

Tate Taylor's crime comedy harkens back to a time when Hollywood focused on entertaining, oddball films with unique stories and stacked casts. And this one is definitely full of heavy hitters, including Janney, Hall, Awkwafina, Wiley, Barkin, and Sykes, as well as stellar character actors like Collins, Simpson, Sim, Matherne, Lowell, and Everett. The result is a delightful film that imagines what a woman pushed to the edge would do to get back at her husband and her community. The script, by Black writer Amanda Idoko, proves that she has an imagination -- it also counters the unspoken idea that Black writers can be celebrated in Hollywood only if they write Black trauma. With a story that's as far away from racial trauma as Clue -- a similarly quirky film full of fun and moxie --Idoko shows that Black writers can and should be given the chance to write whatever they choose.

Also important is how Breaking News in Yuba County doesn't make a big deal out of the cast's gender, racial, and sexual diversity. It offers truly meaningful representation in the sense that no character is perfect or fits into an expected/accepted mold. Because no character is overtly defined by their race or other social factors, the characterizations get to shine, allowing viewers to see characters as flawed, unique individuals. A film that has an effortlessly diverse cast playing characters who exist outside of historical biopic or civil rights drama is something we need more of in Hollywood: It will help audiences broaden their ideas of what types of characters can exist on-screen.