Comedian Chris Rock’s film reminds us that even race-incisive (black) men continue to be very gender-blind, writes Zanele Mji.
Chris Rock is intelligent, and has never been afraid to step out from behind the veil of comedy to interrogate the issues that have made for excellent stand-up content over the course of his career.
First, he directed Good Hair with just the right amount of sensitivity and humour, in an attempt to untangle the politics of beauty that would one day influence his young daughters’ self-images. Most recently he penned a candid, incisive essay on Tinsel Town for The Hollywood Reporter that laid bare the nuances of racism in the industry.
“But forget whether Hollywood is black enough,” Rock writes. “A better question is: Is Hollywood Mexican enough? You’re in LA, you’ve got to try not to hire Mexicans. It’s the most liberal town in the world, and there’s a part of it that’s kind of racist – not racist like ‘Fuck you, nigger’ racist, but just an acceptance that there’s a slave state in LA.”
In his latest film release, Top Five, Rock plays Andre Allen, a stand-up comedian and star of a wildly successful slapstick movie franchise called Hammy the Bear.
Allen is trying to reinvent himself as a serious actor in the eyes of the public and has to battle Hollywood’s pigeonholing of black entertainers, a past with substance abuse he secretly fears may have been the secret to his success, and a New York Times film critic who reviles everything that Allen attempts. As part of his image makeover, he allows journalist Chelsea Brown (Rosario Dawson) to spend a day with him and write a balanced profile.
The autobiographical element of Top Five carried the promise of a sharp and witty self-awareness that Rock – as writer, director and star – comes very close to but robs us of by defaulting to lazy, banal comedic tropes.
Audiences of all races will watch Top Five and relate to it. This marks a step in the right direction from comedies like Think Like a Man that are written for, marketed directly to, and expect to make their money only from black audiences.
Rock makes good fun of this when he tells Kevin Hart on the series Real Husbands of Hollywood: “I’m actually famous. You’re black famous.”
For full review by Zanele Mji see Mail & Guardian
PHOTO: Chris Rock & Rosario Dawson
