Movies You Might Have Missed: Chris Rock's Top Five

One of the things good artists make a habit of is spending their time wisely. Once they reach a certain age, the sensible ones are determined to make use of every last modicum of creativity. Chris Rock, as if to justify appearing in Grown Ups 2, spent the time in his trailer writing Top Five. He later said that his friend Louis CK had urged him to write the screenplay, explaining: “He told me to just go in a room and write and not show it to anyone.”

They say you should write about what you know and Rock is sensible enough to know this is pretty sound advice. In Top Five, he plays Andre Allen (the surname possibly a nod to Woody, one of his idols), a comedian and film star reflecting on a long and varied career. The film was inspired by Kevin Smith's relationship with former journalist Jennifer Schwalbach Smith and sees Allen confront his past while being interviewed by a journalist (Rosario Dawson) for a profile piece over the course of a few days in New York.

The tone is uneven but when it’s good, it’s very good indeed. There is a lengthy set piece in the first act during which our hero reflects on his lowest point and we are treated to a flashback involving sex, drugs and Cedric the Entertainer as a Houston club promoter known as Jazzy Dee, that is one of the funniest sequences in recent cinema. In a sense, the film almost blends the tone of the “early, funny” Woody Allen films with the more thoughtful work that came later. Since it was financed and produced independently, one can forgive the occasional scene that falls flat since this is the work of an auteur not dissimilar to Louie.

Dawson is excellent as a journalist who has little time for the work of her subject but finds she is slowly falling for the man. This is the closest Rock has come to transposing his stand-up persona to the big screen and his ability to deliver a punchline is still almost unrivalled. In recent years, the comic has had a difficult time in his personal life (a recurring topic in his newest stage material) and there is no doubt that he is working through some stuff in Top Five but what a pleasure it is to be brought along for the ride. He brings the same sparkling energy to his directorial work that has been his trademark on stage for decades and the hope is that this becomes a more regular exercise for the comedian.