Top Five
Directed by: Chris Rock
Written by: Chris Rock
Starring: Chris Rock, Rosario Dawson, Gabrielle Union, Kevin Hart, Tracy Morgan, Cedric the Entertainer, JB Smoove, Sherri Shepherd, Anders Holm, Romany Malco, Leslie Jones, Michael Che, Jay Pharoah
Comedy - 101 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 9 Dec 2014
Written by: Chris Rock
Starring: Chris Rock, Rosario Dawson, Gabrielle Union, Kevin Hart, Tracy Morgan, Cedric the Entertainer, JB Smoove, Sherri Shepherd, Anders Holm, Romany Malco, Leslie Jones, Michael Che, Jay Pharoah
Comedy - 101 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 9 Dec 2014
Headline – Chris Rock enters his introspective Woody Allen phase. Most of Top Five is Chris Rock walking down the street delivering a stand-up routine in conversational form with Rosario Dawson. He touches on contemporary race issues, the ins and outs of fame, and his on/off again relationship with comedy. His character, Andre Allen, is not autobiographical but they are as close as a Woody Allen’s characters are to Woody. Rock also set the film out and about in New York City, another Woody Allen trademark. This is not Rock’s Annie Hall, as some proclaim, but it is Rock saying enough is enough with his supporting roles in Adam Sandler movies and finally writing and directing his own vision.
Top Five is a day in the life of former stand-up comedian and current struggling film star Andre Allen. Like most day in the life films, it is one of the busiest and most important he will ever have. Andre’s new film, Uprize, is being released today and has all the signs of a bomb. His wedding to reality star Erica Long (Gabrielle Union) is just around the corner as if the omnipresent reality crew and their cameras could ever let him forget it. The cherry on top of the madness is New York Times reporter Chelsea Brown (Dawson, 2014's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For) tagging along to chronicle his day and try and uncover the truth from a man not interested in airing his dirty laundry.
Top Five is a day in the life of former stand-up comedian and current struggling film star Andre Allen. Like most day in the life films, it is one of the busiest and most important he will ever have. Andre’s new film, Uprize, is being released today and has all the signs of a bomb. His wedding to reality star Erica Long (Gabrielle Union) is just around the corner as if the omnipresent reality crew and their cameras could ever let him forget it. The cherry on top of the madness is New York Times reporter Chelsea Brown (Dawson, 2014's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For) tagging along to chronicle his day and try and uncover the truth from a man not interested in airing his dirty laundry.
What makes Top Five so effective is one of the strongest supporting casts of the year. A dozen or so comedians pop up and even some out of nowhere cameos I will not spoil for you here. Cedric the Entertainer (2014's A Haunted House 2) shows up as the hilarious self-proclaimed most famous man in Houston and most of the recent and current African-American Saturday Night Live cast members make appearances including Tracy Morgan, Leslie Jones, Jay Pharoah, and Michael Che. J.B. Smoove and Kevin Hart also have small roles to keep the laughs rolling.
Andre’s fiancé is currently the country’s most popular reality star. An increasing number of her ideas, motivations, and even words are flowing from her show’s producers and pushing Andre from slightly annoyed territory into outright frustrated. She changes their wedding rings because the camera will pick up the new rings better, he needs to wear a particular shirt to his scripted bachelor party, and says they must kiss in front of the camera because if they do not, then the kiss does not exist. Dig a little bit and you will notice Kanye West is one of the film’s co-producers. His wife, Kim Kardashian, is the epitome of everything a vacuous reality star is today. When Erica breaks down and explains she has no talent, no skill, and no abilities, just her status as famous, I wonder how much of that truth will hit home.
Chris Rock’s Andre Allen is attempting to jump from comedy and three movies he did as a police bear named Hammy into serious films. Uprize is about the Haitian slave rebellion but it is about to get creamed by the new Tyler Perry movie about Medea getting lost in a haunted house. Tyler Perry comes up once more when a group is sitting around spitballing their top five hip-hop artists of all time and consider if Tupac was still alive, would he be a U.S. senator or starring in the new Tyler Perry film as the villainous boyfriend. Poking fun at Tyler Perry works for the quick laugh but Rock is trying to say something about moving between comedy and drama. His audience wants another Hammy movie or for him to do another stand-up special, they are not ready to take him seriously.
Rock has been ready for a long time now for a role as good as Andre Allen, he just had to write it himself and he followed rule number one, he wrote what he knew. Aside from the dozen or so supporting characters he has played in comedies and the three Madagascar films he has voiced Marty the zebra for, Rock’s headlining films have been a bit small and out of place for a comedian of his stature. 2001’s Down to Earth and 2003’s Head of State are bite-sized considering Rock is one of the most sure-fire stand-up comedians in the business. I still laugh out loud at the thought of some of his lines from 1996’s Bring the Pain.
Top Five is the Chris Rock movie we didn’t realize we were waiting for. Until now, I never thought about Rock’s limited filmography and why or why not he never had his personal cash cow or recurring character like an Austin Powers or even a one-off Happy Gilmore. Watching Rock meander from press junkets into the projects is observing him is in his natural habitat, New York City both high and low, bridging racial and class divides. Eddie Murphy pulled that off in the ‘80s and now channeling Woody Allen, Chris Rock proves he is both funny and serious in a film which will top everyone’s list of top five Chris Rock films.
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