Countless critics have compared Chris Rock’s new movie Top Five to many of Woody Allen’s films, most notably “Stardust Memories” where its hero struggles with being taken seriously as an artist, and also “Annie Hall” which also features an unlikely, sometimes thorny romance with a New York City backdrop.
On a superficial level it’s easy to see why, as Rock’s act is in many ways a far less creepy reincarnation of Allen’s persona- one that does an equal amount of soul searching as well as satirizing. But it’s not a ripoff by any stretch, its humor style is solely its own.
Rock plays Andre Allen, a prominent standup icon known for playing a talking crime-fighting bear named Hammy in a series of lowbrow comedies. Despite the money they’ve raked in, he nevertheless laments to Charlie Rose during an interview about his desire to make meaningful art, promoting his new slave drama “Uprize”. It’s a tossup as to which trailer is funnier, but both almost made me choke on popcorn.
Enter New York Times writer Chelsea Brown, played by Rosario Dawson in one of the movie’s standout performances. With enough Attitude to make Steve Austin blush, she’s both an admirer and fierce critic of Allen, and she grills him hard in order to get the juiciest interview possible- one of her key interests being Allen’s upcoming wedding to vain reality show queen Erica Long (a pretty villainous, but not entirely unsympathetic Gabrielle Union).
Despite being at a turning point in his life, Allen is more than happy to trade verbal barbs with Brown during a day long stroll through the Big Apple, and like many a Woody film, the city becomes a character in itself. He also opens up about his struggles with alcoholism and the resulting downward spiral, as well as some of his comedic influences, various thoughts on race in America, romance and celebrity, and his list of favorite rappers (hence the title of the film).
Top Five takes advantage of not just its R-rating, but also a cast of comedy who’s whos. Cedric the Entertainer, here a St. Louis native acting like a Texan, plays a major part in one of Andre’s flashbacks, in what’s easily one of the (if not the) raunchiest sequences, and one of the funniest IMO. Jerry Seinfeld is clearly having a lot of fun alongside Rock and some other major names, and J.B. Smoove and Kevin Hart (both very funny on The Real Husbands of Hollywood) go a long way in supporting roles.
The story unfolds in a pretty typical rom-com fashion, without de-evolving into any real schmaltz. Some comics, like Adam Sandler and the late Robin Williams, will jump from being totally ridiculous in one scene to unabashed sentimentality or a gut-wrenching moment. Rock on the other hand is a funny man first and foremost, one who’s always has an undercurrent of goofiness without sacrificing any poignancy or wit. He makes Andre Allen (oh come on, look at that last name. Yes, Chris, I get it!) into a flawed but still generally sympathetic character, while Brown has plenty of secret, issues and cartoonish love life woes of her own.
Also, Andre is nothing if not autobiographical. Chris Rock’s most successful big screen work to date has arguably been as Marty the Zebra from DreamWorks’s Madagascar series, and while that’s nothing to sneeze at, it’s easy to see Hammy The Bear as a stand-in for Marty- or perhaps Martin Lawrence in the Big Momma suit, or any comedian’s popular but more dumbed down material.
One of the most charming aspects about Top Five is its willingness to allow its star to look as foolish and awkward as the celebrity culture he skewers. The result is a comedy that’s biting and honest without being too mean spirited, albeit one that might be too blue for some people. But that’s pretty much Rock’s thing, so if you can get past that, there’s a lot of laughs to be had- especially during the radio interviews.
As for my personal top five?
1) Jay-Z (a co-producer of this movie)
2) The Roots
3) Kanye West (another co-producer)
4) Outkast
5) 2Pac