Will Smith's Amend: The Fight for America educates on the history of civil rights in America a refreshing tone of complete earnestness

Variety

The Netflix docuseries that Smith produced with Larry Wilmore "is the sort of fundamentally educational product that’s unusual from an entertainment company," says Daniel D'Addario, adding: "While this may be well-known to some, if you are looking for a teaching tool about recent and not-so-recent history, you could do a great deal worse than this...But then, Amend is trying to meet an audience where it is — in this case, scrolling Netflix and seeing a familiar face, then finding stories of real import presented in a relatable way. That some of the more recent history here is presented with studied casualness, is ultimately a gain, even with occasional hiccups: That makes it plainspoken and watchable even for those who know a lot of this history already. Amend manages to avoid turning a curious viewer off and doesn’t lose the power of its story — or the clarity of its message — throughout many different speakers emerging onstage. And its clear understanding that the promise of the Constitution often goes unfulfilled keeps this from being alienatingly idealistic to an audience that knows better: Amend makes the case for what we were promised while showing what we often get, and encourages viewers to work to bridge that gap."