06 February, 2015

Top Five review

Genre: Comedy, Romance.
Starring: Chris Rock, Rosario Dawson, Gabrielle Union, Kevin Hart, J.B. Smoove, Sherri Shepherd, Cedric The Entertainer,
Year Of Release: 2015
Certificate: 15 (UK)
Runtime: 102 Minutes
Director: Chris Rock
Synopsis: "A comedian tries to make it as a serious actor when his reality-TV star fiancée talks him into broadcasting their wedding on her TV show." IMDB











Chris Rock's latest film was not one he just starred in, he also wrote and directed it which is no mean feat, in recent years Chris Rock's work has been less than enjoyable shall we say. He seems to have fallen off the wagon in the Comedy department. Following his buddy Adam Sandler who coincidently has a cameo in this movie which is funnier than he previous five years in film combined. So to say I was apprehensive was kind of an understatement, anyway, here is my review of Top Five.

I will start off saying, this film is not anything we have not seen before, it's a Romantic Comedy riddled with all the cliches you get from every previous instalment in the genre. The story isn't that great, but that's not to say it is a bad story, at times you do find yourself drifting a little bit, but you find me a Rom/Com in which your attention doesn't drift. However when it comes to Top Five and you find yourself drifting another incredibly funny cameo will appear on screen and boom you're right back into it. The film depends a lot of the third act as do most in the genre, the chemistry of Chris Rock and Rosario Dawson was brilliant on screen which made the cheesiness of the scenes bearable. The dialogue between said characters was written great by Rock himself, their repartee was fun to experience.

With Rock directing he allowed his fellow comedic actors to shine in their roles albeit small roles, a specific scene in which he goes to visit his family has some great comedians dropping some incredibly funny lines some of which seem improvised (not sure why I feel this after watching, they just do) plus a scene with DMX that had tears rolling down my face along with a bachelor party scene with Sandler and Seinfeld the movie is full of laughs. Was great to see Rock step back and allow these other actors steal some scenes, great work by the rather inexperienced director.

Now to talk about the acting, it's not the kind of acting that you will see in the films that will get nominated for the big awards. However, that being said, it does not mean the acting is bad, Rock acts like he does in many films which I personally enjoy and the two women in his life Rosario Dawson and Gabrielle Union were great in their roles. The better of the two in my opinion was Union, she was brilliant in the role of Erica Long, Andre Allen's soon to be reality star wife.

Overall, the film was a thoroughly enjoyable watch, I'd say the perfect date film packed full of laughs and has the overlying tone of romance throughout. Take the missus or mister out to see this and I can safely say you guys/girls will laugh your butts off and route for Rock's character Andre to get the relationship he wants and deserves. I sincerely hope Rock continues to write and direct films n the future, if he stars it's a bonus, however if he chooses not to I can still envision the film to be a great watch. Just watching some of the scenes in this film and you can see how great Rock can be behind the camera instead of in front.

7/10

2 comments:

  1. In Top Five Chris Rock shows the world that his humor is slightly evolved and still very much relevant.

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    Replies
    1. Agreed, hoping he is going back to his older routes when he was much funnier.

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