Chris Rock is back behind the camera, and this time he’s made a movie about a fallen Hollywood actress who refuses to play the game. Misty Green, his latest, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and the whole thing rides on one woman: Rosalind Eleazar, a British actress who plays the title role of a once-successful TV star now scraping to keep her career alive.
The film follows Misty, a former Emmy-winning actress whose career is in freefall. She’s battling addictions, family problems and a refusal to audition for roles she considers beneath her. Rock noticed the situation while doing a group voice-over session and saw actors from hit sitcoms doing day work to keep the lights on. That observation became his idea for the film.
Eleazar is the reason to watch. She makes this a compelling portrait of a woman standing in her own way.
The Case For Misty Green
Misty Green is a depressing portrait of Los Angeles, the land of the haves and the have nots. Rock shows the city as a fairly empty place where dreamers arrive with no idea how to navigate a life worth living. The scenario isn’t particularly fresh — Hollywood has spent decades mining the story of a star on the decline — but Rock’s specific focus on a Black actress on the skids sets it apart.
The film is a sizzling look at a woman who once had it all and now can’t get it back. Misty’s world is defined by the people around her:
- Naomi (Anna Kendrick) is her best friend, trying to encourage her and even helping with a self-tape audition Misty resists.
- Randy (Topher Grace) is her frustrated agent, complaining about the last job where Misty punched a co-star.
- Zach (Adam Driver) is a friend and would-be filmmaker whose drug-induced invitations and sleazy job offers Misty can’t resist because she needs the cash.
- Jay (Daniel Kaluuya) is her brother, in and out of jail, a mess, but someone she loves and wants to help.
- Jordan (Rock) is a working director with whom Misty has a past, and who might offer her a future dream role if she can get her act together.
Eleazar makes this all worth the ticket. She’s mesmerizing in one of the best performances by an actress this year, and you believe her completely.
The Cast Around Her
Kaluuya 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’s a one-dimensional character. Among the larger cast, Anthony Anderson appears as a cop, and even Ice T shows up as himself.
The Los Angeles locations are well chosen, giving a sense of what the city really is behind the fake glamour.
Rock’s Uneven Hand
Rock plays Jordan, the director with whom Misty has a past. He performs it seriously until he resorts to dialogue and use of the N-word that resembles his old stand-up rather than the guy he’s playing. It’s a bit uneven in execution, and some scenes feel like they belong to a different movie.
But the film is not the sum of all its parts. Many of those parts are pretty good, and Rock 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.
A Long Line Of Fallen Stars
Rock’s film joins a long tradition of Hollywood portraits of actresses on the decline. The classic is Sunset Boulevard, but there are many more:
- Bette Davis got an Academy Award nomination as a has-been in The Star, carrying her Oscar and saying things like “Come on Oscar. Let’s go get drunk.”
- Jane Fonda was nominated as well for The Morning After, playing a down-and-out in Hollywood.
- Connie Stevens starred in The Sex Symbol, and Kim Novak appeared in The Legend of Lylah Clare (“Tell them Lylah is coming!”).
- Natalie Wood delivered a great performance in Inside Daisy Clover, a real favorite.
These are white stars in stories that Rock has chosen to tell through a Black actress. That specificity is the film’s biggest strength.
The Numbers Behind The Film
Rock’s last directorial effort was 2014’s Top Five, his most critically acclaimed turn behind the lens. He tried directing earlier this century with 2003’s Head of State and 2007’s I Think I Love My Wife (the reviewer quite liked that one), though neither were box office hits. Now he’s back after 12 years.
The film runs 1 hour 44 minutes and holds an R rating. Producers are Peter Rice, Rock, Victoria Thomas and David Worthen Brooks.
|Misty Green Facts|
|—|—|
|Director-screenwriter|Chris Rock|
|Lead actress|Rosalind Eleazar|
|Supporting cast|Anna Kendrick, Adam Driver, Chris Rock, Daniel Kaluuya, Topher Grace|
|Release|Toronto International Film Festival|
|Distributor|A24|
|Running time|1 hr 44 mins|
What We Make Of It
Misty Green is a flawed but compelling portrait of a woman at rock bottom. Rock’s eye for the underbelly of show business is on full display, and the Los Angeles locations give a raw sense of the city’s class divide. The film is uneven, and Rock’s performance as Jordan occasionally leans on his old stand-up instincts, but the cast carries the weight.
Eleazar is the standout. She makes the story feel fresh even when the premise is tired. Kaluuya is heartbreaking, Driver is sleazy, and Kendrick is steady. The supporting players — Rich Sommer, Amy Landecker, Anthony Anderson — fill out a world that feels lived-in.
The film will be remembered as the one that introduced Rosalind Eleazar to a wider audience. She’s mesmerizing in one of the best performances by an actress this year, and you may even know her by the end.
Misty Green is a worthy return for Chris Rock. It’s a depressing look at Hollywood, but it’s also a deeply human one. The film succeeds because Eleazar makes Misty a person, not a caricature. The rest of the cast supports her, and Rock’s direction, uneven though it is, keeps the story grounded.
It’s a movie about failure, but it’s also a movie about the people who love you anyway. That’s a rare thing in Hollywood.
See the video the story is built around at Deadline.