I love Chris Rock. I loved his recent SNL opening monologue where he said (and I paraphrase) that he wouldn’t go in the new Freedom Tower (former World Trade Center site) if Scarlett Johansson was naked lying in a plate of ribs. I love that he called Ben Roethlisberger the original white Cosby. I love his edge and would endorse him for stand up comedy writing as one of my TOP FIVE. Preceding him would be Louis CK#2, my recent fixation with Tom Papa#5, Doug Benson#4 (because I Love Movies), Jon Stewart #1, and Bill Burr#6.
What’s that you say? That Chris Rock#3 plus that list equals 6? Well, that’s part of the screenwriting wonders of Rock’s Top Five, where he and his posse name their top five rappers of all time. A cute conceit, yet it’s just one of the many semi random non-flowing elements of this film.
The story just wasn’t believable simply because Chris Rock has a comedian face. Meaning, his big beautiful eyes are always on the search for his next punchline, so when he wants to deliver any kind of dramatic response, it’s just seems contrived. And the story writing, well? Again, as with Horrible Bosses Two, at the very least Rock gives hope to aspiring screenwriters. Formula is not hard to write; the Hispanic aunt who loves Cosmo explicit magazine articles, the ‘hoes’ who want their money from the pimp like comedy show promoter, the diva girlfriend/star of reality show. Two dimensional characters are not the sign of genius.
And speaking of characters, I like Rosario Dawson and fell in love with her performance in Rent long ago. However, she delivers her lines quicker in this film than a side effects announcer in a Flomax commercial. her entire spiel about Cinderella, an important set up for the movie, was delivered machine gun style and tough to take in at the pace it was delivered.
Back to my Linkedin endorsement: Your stand up Mr. Rock, that I highly endorse and consider you in my top five!
