In September, Chris Rock’s all-star, R-rated comedy “Top Five” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Following the screening, an all-out bidding war began. Nearly every major studio (except, very likely, Disney) wanted distribution rights. Paramount emerged victorious, buying “Top Five” for $12.5 million and adding another $20 million for marketing.
Rock’s been everywhere recently promoting “Top Five”, from his semi-controversial hosting gig on “Saturday Night Live”, to writing an Op-Ed piece for The Hollywood Reporter. Many are calling this Rock’s comeback movie. Clearly he really wanted to re-charge his career, and this film (he’s writer, director and star) was his only real option, since he didn’t have any projects waiting for him after last year’s “Grown Ups 2”.
A lot of Rock’s real-life is poured-into “Top Five”. He plays Andre Allen, a former stand-up comedian turned actor, best known for his role as Hammy the Bear in three blockbuster action comedies (the third grossed $600 million worldwide!) But Allen is at the point where he’s looking to reinvent himself by becoming a serious actor. It’s opening day of his new historical drama about the Haitian Revolution, which, as he will find-out, is going-up against the premiere of Tyler Perry’s newest “Madea” movie. Someone did some bad scheduling.
Throughout the day, Andre does a lot of interviews, starting with Charlie Rose, who focuses on Andre’s wedding with Bravo Reality TV star Erica Long (Gabrielle Union), which is two days away. Serious XM Satellite Radio hosts can’t believe Allen’s doing a drama and not another “Hammy” movie (a scene where Andre snaps while voicing a promo is one of the film’s funniest). And New York Times reporter Chelsea Brown (played by Rosario Dawson) is doing a feature story on Allen, traveling with him throughout NYC, looking to get some honest answers from the wildly popular celebrity. But will he allow her – and himself – to discover the real Andre Allen?
Let’s get the lows of “Top Five” out of the way first: There’s a hefty amount of vulgar humor, and several lengthy and raunchy “flashback” scenes involving both Andre and Chelsea, as they each share times in their lives they would like to forget. These are, thankfully, the only sequences when Rock tries to force us to laugh, and it shows because these scenes just don’t work and hurt the flow of the story.
And the premise, for the most part, is very predictable. We know where things are going and how this day will end about 10 minutes in. However, this fact doesn’t prevent us from enjoying ourselves while we’re getting there. Rock is able to infuse a well thought-out, full-hearted and impressive script with sharp comments on several topics, including comedians wanting to be seen as serious actors, the shenanigans of Reality TV, promotional media campaigns, the film industry in general, and the idea of what being a celebrity really means. Could Rock have gone even further with the entertainment world jabs? Absolutely. But this element is what makes “Top Five” excel.
Rock definitely got out his Christmas card list when casting “Top Five”, as the film is packed with celebrity co-stars and cameos, from JB Smoove as Andre’s personal assistant, to family members and friends played by Tracy Morgan and Sherri Shepherd, who all debate about who their “Top Five” all-time favorite rappers are – lists that fluctuate daily. There are also brief appearances by Kevin Hart (only one scene), Whoopi Goldberg, Taraji P. Henson, and even Adam Sandler. Jerry Seinfeld receives the Cameo Runner-Up Award for playing a slightly crazier version of himself. But the honor goes to rapper DMX for an unforgettable jail scene that’s one of the funniest of the year.
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “Top Five” gets a B-. I didn’t laugh as long or as often as I had hoped, but, overall, this is still one of the “Top Five” comedies of 2014.