Review: Top Five, 2014, dir. Chris Rock

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“At times, Top Five feels like a live wire. That thrumming volatility comes as no surprise—it’s a product of Chris Rock’s bluntly indelicate comic inclinations—but damned if the film’s arrival isn’t, for better or worse, the very definition of “timely.” Writer, director and star Rock orchestrates scenes in which he’s beaten on camera by white NYPD officers and arrested after being (falsely) accused of rape; his character even name-drops The Cos in a discussion of great black comedians, which some may deem an unfortunate faux pas. Rock can’t help the bad vibes, though.Top Five wrapped production long before Ferguson, Eric Garner and even the Cosby scandal came to dominate headlines.” – Via Paste Magazine

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