I have to confess I am a sucker for down-on-your-luck Hollywood stories, especially movies about actresses who once had success and are now scraping the bottom. Of course there is the classic of classics, Sunset Boulevard, but there are many more. A personal favorite is The Star which got Bette Davis an Academy Award nomination as a has-been who walks around Hollywood carrying her Oscar saying things like “Come on Oscar. Let’s go get drunk”. Jane Fonda got nominated as well playing a down-and-outer in Hollywood in The Morning After. For sleazy fun there’s Connie Stevens in The Sex Symbol, Kim Novak in The Legend Of Lylah Clare (“Tell them Lylah is coming!”), and a great Natalie Wood in a real favorite, Inside Daisy Clover to name just a handful. The lure of Hollywood and the dark side of those who chase the dream has been fascinating subject matter for filmmakers throughout Hollywood history and now it is Chris Rock‘s turn.
Rock was doing a group voice over session and noticed a couple of once successful actresses from hit sitcoms who were now doing this kind of day work to keep the lights on and it got him thinking about a scenario that eventually became his latest idea for a film, Misty Green. It has been 12 years since his last, and most critically acclaimed turn behind the lens with 2014’s Top Five. Earlier this century he tried his hand directing 2003’s Head Of State and 2007’s I Think I Love My Wife (I quite liked that one) although neither of those two were box office hits.
Now he is back and if Misty Green will be remembered for anything it is the remarkable performance of British actress Rosalind Eleazar, a co-star currently for Slow Horses, but soon will be known as well for playing the title role in this story of an L.A. based television actress, a once upon a time Supporting Actress Emmy winner, now going through tough times, various addictions, family problems, and standing in her own way of reviving her career because she won’t lower herself to audition. This is the kind of material that could lend itself to show business cliches (we have seen it a hundred times), but Rock has created a character, specifically a Black actress on the skids, the kind of character we don’t get to see portrayed on screen as opposed to the long list of similar stories listed above with white stars.
This is all about Misty. We meet her best friend Naomi (Anna Kendrick) who tries to encourage her , even helping with a self tape audition Misty resists; we meet her frustrated agent Randy (Topher Grace) who complains because on the last job she punched a co-star ; we meet friend and would be filmmaker Zach (Adam Driver) whose drug induced invitations and sleazy job opps are not what Misty needs, but still can’t resist because she needs the cash; and we meet her brother Jay (Daniel Kaluuya) whose is in and out of jail, a mess, but someone she loves and wants to help. These are the people around her and they also include Jordan (Rock plays him), a working director she with whom she has a past, and with whom she might have a future dream role if she can get her act together.
Misty Green is also a pretty depressing portrait of L.A., the land of the haves and the have nots as Rock sees it, a fairly empty place dreamers head towards with no idea how to navigate a life worth living. Really this scenario isn’t particularly fresh, but I have to say when I heard the brief synopsis I was all in. It is a bit uneven though in execution and Rock, in his role, plays it seriously until resorting to some dialogue and use of the N word that resembles his old stand up rather the guy he’s playing here. But is all lifted way up high by Eleazar who makes this all worth the ticket. She’s mesmerizing in one of the best performances by an actress this year. You believe her, you may even know her.
Among the rest of the cast the standout is Kaluuya who is heartbreaking as a young man who simply has never been able to get out of his own way, despite the best intentions. Driver gets the sleaze of his role just right, though it is a one-dimensional character. In the large cast there are some familiar walk ons such as Anthony Anderson as a cop, and even Ice T as himself.
The Los Angeles locations are well chosen giving a sense of what the city really is behind the fake glamour. Rock is a very smart performer , you can’t have doubts about that, and he has a keen eye for the underbelly of show biz, so even in a movie that is not the sum of all its parts, many of those parts are pretty good and he has delivered a film that will be remembered as the one that gave us a glimpse of the movie star Rosalind Eleazar is about to become.
Producers are Peter Rice, Rock, Victoria Thomas, and David Worthen Brooks.
Title: Misty Green
Festival: Toronto – Gala Presentations
Distributor: A24
Director/Screenplay: Chris Rock
Cast: Rosalind Eleazar, Anna Kendrick, Adam Driver, Chris Rock, Daniel Kaluuya, Topher Grace, Rich Sommer, Amy Landecker, Anthony Anderson.
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour and 44 minutes
