Andre Allen (Chris Rock) was once named “the funniest man in America” but people mostly recognise him on the street for his hit franchise,
Hammy the Bear
, for which he dons a bear suit and a police uniform: “It’s Hammy time!” is his catchphrase.
Determined to restore his integrity and scared that he's lost his comic mojo since sobering up, Allen spends a day on promotional duties for Uprize, a historical epic set during the Haitian Revolution. Chelsea Brown (Rosario Dawson), a single mom and New York Times journalist, rides shotgun, while Allen's reality star fiancée, Erica (Gabrielle Union), plans a ludicrously elaborate televised wedding event.
Just when you think that you've seen everything that stand-up, actor, writer, director, producer and documentarian Chris Rock has to offer, he only goes and makes Chris Rock's 8½.
Top Five unfolds over "one fateful day", which proves time enough for some of Rock's characteristically hilarious rants and many, many celebrity cameos: watch out for BFs Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler and Whoopi Goldberg – there will be banter – and an exquisitely demented musical number from DMX.
The film's semi-autobiographical dimension, with a nod to Louis CK and Curb Your Enthusiasm, offers lots of small pleasures and a spot-on depiction of how film promotion works: "Do it with 10 per cent more stank," says one radio engineer as the film's hero records a station ID.
Beneath the meta-fiction and the lulz lies a genuinely warm romance in the style of Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise. Dawson, as luminous as ever, proves a worthy verbal sparring partner for motor- mouthed Rock.
Stay tuned as the final credits roll for Jerry Seinfeld’s top five hip-hop artists.
