I had a great time attending the private Atlanta screening of Top Five which was written and directed by Chris Rock also Starring Chris Rock and Rosario Dawson, Gabrielle Union, Cedric The Entertainer, J.B. Smoove, Tracy Morgan, Kevin Hart, Anders Holm, Jay Pharaoh, Michael Che, Sherri Shepherd, Leslie Jones. The film is produced by Scott Rudin and Eli Bush. The Co-Producers are Shawn “Jay Z” Carter and Kanye West; the Executive Music Producer is Questlove.
It was like going home for a minute. Good Black fun, if you will. Don’t get your panties in a bunch if you didn’t grow up in a neighborhood like I did, where people stand outside and have gatherings at places that are way too small to accommodate everyone and talk shit. LOL. Listen this movie is not for the faint at heart. Upon my return from seeing it I spoke to my mother who first asked, “Was Chris Rock there?” followed by, “How was it?”. It is at this point where I need to add that my mother is an ordained Christian minister. Here is how I described the movie to her:
It was a movie about self acceptance, recovery and discovery. In it a man who is a famous comedian stops doing what he loves and decides to settle in life because he believes his drinking and drug abuse are what made him funny in the first place. What we learn very quickly is that he was not a victIM of his circimstances but a vicTOR. As he tells his story we understand how he turned the pain of his youth into his talent, but not before everything spins out of control first. We meet a character, Andre Allen (Chris Rock), who is sober and who is on the verge of discovering that he does not have to choose between sobriety and comedy as he narrates his own story to a reporter played by Rosario Dawson.
Ok now throw in EVERY and I mean EVERY well known Black comedian into the fray and add a DASH of Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler, a Cedric The Entertainer love scene, obscenities and some hot sauce and you have the movie Top Five. The cameos were CRAZY including appearances from Tracy Morgan, Kevin Hart, Sherri Shepherd, Bruce Bruce, Luis Guzman, Jerry Seinfeld and Whoopi Goldberg to name a few. This material is graphic and down right disturbing at points but it all adds to the complicated fabric of the story. All in all I enjoyed the movie. It was interesting and laugh out loud funny. I am a huge Chris Rock fan and I think his take on life in general is very different, abstract and always funny. You must understand his type of humor in order to appreciate this movie.
Top Five opens in theaters nationwide on 12/12/2014. Check out the #TopFiveMovie hashtag on Twitter and Instagram to stay on top of the buzz for this film.
By the way, my Top Five are: Nas, Talib, Biggie, Lady of Rage, Prince B…Who are your Top Five?
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