Tessa Thompson

There’s a scene in “Creed” where the latest brash boxer who challenges the upstart protege of Rocky Balboa barks, “No one cares about Balboa anymore!”

A cheeky provocation wrapped in a zingy punch line, Justin Simien’s “Dear White People” recalls other memorably promising debuts—by filmmakers named Spike, for instance, whether Lee or Jonze. An ambitious satire that questions just how “post-racial” America has become, the film is never at a loss for words, but sometimes confuses galvanizing rhetoric for legitimate deliberation.

There’s a scene in “Creed” where the latest brash boxer who challenges the upstart protege of Rocky Balboa barks, “No one cares about Balboa anymore!”

A cheeky provocation wrapped in a zingy punch line, Justin Simien’s “Dear White People” recalls other memorably promising debuts—by filmmakers named Spike, for instance, whether Lee or Jonze. An ambitious satire that questions just how “post-racial” America has become, the film is never at a loss for words, but sometimes confuses galvanizing rhetoric for legitimate deliberation.