Top
Five - Review
In
the film “Top Five” which takes place in one 24 hour cycle in New York City, we
find comedian Chris Rock (the writer - director)
stepping away from his stand up microphone to deliver to the big screen a very
smart, well written, satirically clever
and semi-autobiographical movie on subjects ranging from rap music, promiscuous
sex, family dynamics, romantic relationships and the consequences of alcohol and
drug abuse and their collective impact through the ups and downs of sudden
unexpected fame in the modern entertainment industry.
Director
Rock manages not only to make his “Andrea Allen” into someone both interesting
to watch and to listen to, he also manages to shares his directing talents on well-rounded,
fully realized supporting characters, especially in the form of his co-star Rosario
Dawson’s “Chelsea Brown”; a newspaper
reporter assigned to interview his Allen for a COB deadline. Rosario’s “Brown” comes
across as both an intellectual and emotional equal to Rocks “Andre” without ever
stooping to be some conventional cliché’ vulnerable appendage love interest. She
is equally smart, sometimes flawed, sometimes witty, sometimes vulnerable, but
above all femininely strong without ever having to lower her standards and
personal convictions when they are on the screen together.
Not
intentionally a comedic film but rather a film bathed in heavy social satire
that is at its core funny, ‘Top Five” works well the full running time, though
it does have a few clumsy moments of raw highly sexualized humor and profanity
laced gags that at times seemed to be misplaced and a tad raunchy. But those
moments are very, very brief and few apart as Rock manages to overall stay basically
on course to his film’s fundamental vision about celebrity culture with insightful
observations, authentic moments of genuine humanity, vibrant charm, credible
laughter and heartfelt humor.
I like “Top Five”
for its construction, its originality and that it made me laugh and smile. But
above all it also made me reflect.
3
- 1/2 Stars
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