Review: Top Five
"I want to make uplifting entertainment," Andre Allen (Chris Rock) declares in Top Five. Like Birdman's Riggan Thomsen, Allen longs to free the shackles of his blockbuster franchise Hammy the Bear for something more serious, and he's banking on his latest film Uprize to take him to that next level. Prospects for the dramatisation of the Haitian Revolution of 1791 are grim, but Allen is convinced he can turn it around during his various promotional rounds in his hometown of New York City. "It could be like a Haitian Django," he tells his exasperated agent (Kevin Hart).
It's an uphill climb - everyone would rather ask about when he'll be putting on the bear suit for another Hammy the Bear or his upcoming televised wedding to reality star Eric Long (Gabrielle Union). Then there's Chelsea Brown (Rosario Dawson), the New York Times journalist assigned to follow him around for the day for a profile piece. He's reluctant to cooperate - the Times' film critic James Nielson has a history of savagely excoriating his movies - but acquiesces when Chelsea stresses that she'll write a fair piece provided Allen is "rigorously honest" with her.
Like Jesse and Celine in Richard Linklater's Before trilogy, Allen and Chelsea make their way around the city, from Morningside Heights to Union Square, getting to know one another as they discuss everything from their shared former addictions (they're both four years sober) to why the handicapped can't be president ("You run for president, you don't roll for president."). The loose structure allows Rock to translate his stand-up sensibilities to the screen, abrading celebrity culture as well as the stasis of racial progress and the implicit racism that's alive and well in mainstream American culture.
The narrative also allows for scatological anecdotes from both Allen and Chelsea. His involves a booze-fuelled three-way that loses its appeal once shady promoter Jazzy Dee (an uproarious Cedric the Entertainer) joins the fray and lets loose like Old Faithful ("It was everywhere. Like, the garbage truck had to come and lay down salt to get rid of it."). Hers results with a tampon seasoned with hot sauce used as an unwelcome sex toy.
Rock brings Allen and Chelsea to Allen's old neighbourhood where an unsettling encounter with his dad (Ben Vereen) gives way to a raucous reunion with old friends and loved ones. The latter finds Saturday Night Live cast members past, present and future (Tracy Morgan, Jay Pharaoh, Leslie Jones, and Michael Che) letting loose and riffing off one another and Rock in arguably the funniest scene of the film. When Jones comments that Tupac Shakur might have become a political leader had he remained alive, Rock retorts, "Or Tupac might be in a Tyler Perry movie…kicking Jill Scott down a flight of stairs." Observing Morgan's chronic unemployment, Rock notes, "He's allergic to jobs. When he feels a job coming on, the just takes a Benadryl." Later at his bachelor party, Rock fields advice on adultery from Adam Sandler and Jerry Seinfeld ("Even if she finds an actual vagina in your pocket, don't confess."). It's a delight to simply sit back and enjoy Rock and friends doing what they do best.
Rock and Dawson make for an appealing pair, and are well-matched in wit and intelligence. Their relaxed, sensual rapport permeates much of the movie - it's no coincidence that Rock's Andre shares the surname or Woody, whose Stardust Memories and Manhattan are obvious influences here. Rock displays an Altmanesque touch in his control of the sprawling cast, all of whom are in top form, and also nods to Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels, which also tracked a man straying from and then returning to his roots.That Top Five is both gut-bustingly hilarious and emotionally resonant is testament to Rock's continued progression as a director. Besides, how can you not love a film that calls Charlie Chaplin "the Grandmaster Flash of Haha."
Top Five
Directed by: Chris Rock
Written by: Chris Rock
Starring: Chris Rock, Rosario Dawson, J.B. Smoove, Gabrielle Union, Anders Holm, Romany Malco, Kevin Hart, Cedric the Entertainer, Tracy Morgan, Sherri Shepherd, Leslie Jones, Jay Pharaoh, Michael Che, Ben Vereen
