Top Five

You get the sense that Chris Rock (who stars, wrote and directed the film) was expelling a lot of fears and personal demons while making Top Five.  The movie feels somewhat auto-biographical, as it definitely has a large current of truth about the world of comedians and the price of fame.  Most importantly, the film is very sharp and funny.  You have to admire Rock for making a film built around a question that all comics who have hit it big fear, but are inevitably asked at some point - Why aren't you funny anymore?

Rock plays Andre Allen, who is one of the biggest comic stars in the world.  He was once known for being one of the edgiest and funniest men in the stand up comedy circuit, and that eventually led to a thriving film career.  His most famous film?  A series of movies called Hammy the Bear, where Andre dresses up in a bear suit, and plays a bear who somehow wound up working on the police force.  The Hammy movies have been successful, but Andre doesn't want to be funny anymore.  He wants to do more serious projects, and as the film opens, his drama Uprize! has just been released.  In that film, he plays a Haitian slave who becomes the leader of a slave rebellion, which ends up resulting in the death of 50,000 white people by the end of the film.  However, no one is interested in the movie, not even the people who are interviewing him about it.  Everyone wants to see Hammy on the big screen again.  When he goes to a local theater to see how many people are showing up for his drama, he sees a huge line...Waiting for the new Tyler Perry Madea movie.

In his personal life, Andre is only a couple days away from being married to reality TV show star, Erica Long (Gabrielle Union).  The wedding is set to be the media event of the year, with the Bravo channel filming every detail of the preparation, as well as the big event itself.  We also learn that he has been through more than his share of alcohol-fueled meltdowns and police run-ins, has gone through the AA system, and is now sober and trying to turn his life around.  That's why he doesn't want to do comedy anymore.  He's afraid he can't be funny unless he is under the influence of drugs and booze.  He's already on edge because his new movie is tracking poorly with critics and audiences.  The temptation to fall back into his old habits makes him even more on edge.

Enter Chelsea Brown (Rosario Dawson), a reporter for the New York Times who is assigned to spend a day with Andre, and interview him.  She is the one who asks him the blunt question, "why aren't you funny anymore?".  She saw his stand up routine once when she was a college student, and knows he's better than he usually portrays himself up on the screen.  Andre distrusts Chelsea almost right from the start, as the film critic for the Times has always been scathing toward his films, and he thinks she's preparing for another attack piece on his career.  As she follows him around for the day, she gets to see him play for the cameras as he does some shopping for the soon-to-be-televised wedding and bachelor party.  She also gets to see his private side, as when he brings her to the home he grew up in in the projects to meet his family.

There is a lot of truth in Top Five, and you get the sense that Rock has gone through some of the experiences or feelings that his character has.  Every time Andre steps out onto the streets, we hear people shout out "Hammy!" at him, or they want him to do one of his routines from the films for them.  Rock also features a lot of his fellow comic friends in cameos, and you get the sense that they are venting just a little, while also parodying their image.  Jerry Seinfeld, Whoopi Goldberg and Adam Sandler sit down with Andre at his bachelor party, and get some big laughs during their conversation with him.  Kevin Hart shows up as Andre's manager.  And his trip back home to visit his family is basically a who's who of talent, with Michael Che, Jay Pharaoh, Leslie King, Tracy Morgan and Ben Vereen playing the people he grew up around.

This is a movie that is quite often funny, and always sharp and smart.  But that doesn't mean that it doesn't have a few flaws here and there.  The subplot surrounding Andre's wedding to the reality show star doesn't really go anywhere and feels underwritten.  Likewise, a last minute plot twist surrounding the Chelsea Brown character is kind of hard to swallow.  However, the movie largely works, because of the chemistry between Rock and Dawson, and also because of the truth that Rock frequently sneaks into the screenplay.  The movie does fall into crass humor at times, but this is just Rock's style, and it never overpowers the tone.  This is ultimately a sweet and honest look at a man looking at his life and career, and where it has led him.

Top Five is obviously a very personal film for the comedic actor, but more importantly, it is filled with high energy and very entertaining.  This movie shows that Rock is comfortable enough in his career that he can make a film like this, and let audiences into his world just a little bit.  It also shows him as a confident filmmaker, and one who knows how to get just as much emotion as laughs from his audience.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

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