Top Five should be your top pick this weekend
REVIEW: Top Five is a major form reversal for former movie dud Chris Rock, who has written, directed and starred in one of the real finds of 2015.
Leigh Paatsch
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Top Five (MA15+)
Director : Chris Rock (Head of State)
Starring : Chris Rock, Rosario Dawson, Gabrielle Union, J.B. Smoove.
Rating :****
Rock finally gets on a roll
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It didn’t take long for Chris Rock to get his act together in the 1990s to become one of the best stand-up comedians in the world.
Chris Rock and the movies, however .... that’s a whole other story many had already finished and filed away.
All too often, he’d been the wrong man in the wrong project at the wrong time.
In fact, the last time most punters might have seen Rock was him trying not to be seen in the Adam Sandler movie Grown Ups 2.
Well, get this for a form reversal: against all odds, Rock has written, directed and starred in one of the real finds of 2015 so far.
Better still, Top Five is the best thing he has even done on screen by a considerable distance.
In essence, Top Five is simply a day and night spent on the streets of New York City with Rock and co-star Rosario Dawson as they riff it, rom-com-style.
However, if you’re expecting the pair to play it cute to win over the hearts’n’flowers crowd, you’ve come to the wrong film.
No, the way these two keep walking, talking, connecting and disengaging throughout make them magnificently lively company indeed.
Rock plays Andre, a mid-strength movie star who used to be a major stand-up (autobiographical, anyone?).
In a bid to lift his lowbrow reputation, Andre agrees to allow a New York Times reporter, Chelsea (Dawson) to follow him around as he promotes his new movie.
Things remain as suspicious and stilted as any typical star-journalist interaction, until both mutually confide they are recovering alcoholics.
A riveting repartee takes hold that will power Top Five across a broad spectrum of moods, subjects and settings.
Though not the most gifted of actors, Rock’s natural and unforced performance syncs up beautifully with that of Dawson.
Better still, the writing is quick, incisive and unfailingly funny at all times.
You can easily sense what a whale of a time the entire cast is having, knowing another killer line is just a matter of seconds away.
*** for more reviews, news and updates, follow Leigh Paatsch on Twitter at @leighpaatsch and on Instagram at leighpaatsch ***
Originally published as Top Five should be your top pick this weekend
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