Top Five

Originally posted on FB on December 14, 2014 ·

I saw Top Five, Chris Rock’s new movie. It’s pretty much a more Rom-Com version of Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories. A comedian who’s made a successful string of cornball movies about a bear who works for the police is now trying to break away from what everyone expects of him.

His new film is a serious one, about a slave uprising in Haiti. It’s just premiered, but it’s being ignored in favor of his upcoming wedding to a reality TV star played by Gabrielle Union. She’s a borderline Kardashian, backed by Bravo, who’s filming it. Chris Rock’s character has been able to avoid the reality TV limelight, and is in NYC to promote the film. The pressure’s on and no one wants to take him seriously. Several well known interviewers appear in the film. Somewhere, he’s been convinced to let a reporter from the Times to trail him for the day, and and was played by Rosario Dawson. She starts out by asking him why he isn’t funny anymore, and it goes downhill from there. If you know the rules of Rom-Com, you know what happens. They wander the streets of NYC, visit his childhood home, and so on, all while the reporter is trying to grill him for actual details of what’s happened.

It’s a very funny movie. There are some unexpected comedic moments that help this film from being the typical no-brainer crap that Hollywood churns out on a regular basis. The end was just the icing on the cake, IMO.

Recommended.

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