Ten years ago moviegoers got a love letter to Los Angeles in the achingly sweet “La La Land,” where characters danced on air. Gravity arrives a decade later in Chris Rock’s terrific poison pen letter to the city, “Misty Green.”
Rock, who directs and stars in the film as well as having written the screenplay, holds a mirror up to modern-day Los Angeles and shows us a metropolis that acts as a meat-grinder for a never-ending wave of wannabes. The city may as well use that mirror to cut another line of coke and snort it off someone’s thigh in a dingy bathroom.
“Misty Green” is an almost noirish take on Hollywood and the chase for fame. The result is one of Rock’s best projects, boosted by the ferocious abilities of Rosalind Eleazar as Misty,. She turns a star-seeking character into a star-making part.
Eleazar’s Misty Green is a mess when we first meet her: A once white-hot actor-singer who won a supporting Emmy trophy years before but is now approaching 40 and struggling to keep her career going.
Misty has poor impulse control, a long line of grudges and finds herself somewhat trapped: “Too Black to be with Leo, (Leonardo DiCaprio) not Black enough to be with Damson (Idris), not a nepo baby or a Brit,” she says, which is a little meta because Eleazar is, in fact, a Brit.
Topher Grace, who plays Misty’s unhelpful agent, is out of ideas for his struggling client. “You’re not exactly unknown,” he tells her. “I don’t know if I could get you on ‘Law & Order.’”
Hope arrives in Rock, who plays a movie director trying to recover from his last flop, starring Nicolas Cage, one of several celebs who catch strays in this movie. (Others include Victoria Beckham, J. Lo and Nicole Kidman. Speaking of celebs, look for a hysterical Ice-T cameo and, in an apparent nod to nepo babies, Rock’s daughter, Zahra, also has a small part.)
Rock’s easygoing director fired Misty years ago when she assaulted a makeup artist while coked up during his remake of “Cinderella.” Misty chalks up the incident to “creative differences,” and Rock may be willing to give her a second chance in his remake of the musical “Dreamgirls.”
Adding to Misty’s stress levels are the need to find new housing, stat, and the arrival of her bipolar brother, heartbreakingly played by Daniel Kaluuya. His character can be very dangerous when not on his meds and he has an irritating tendency of throwing plastic spiders at people.
Others in Misty’s orbit include an actor friend played by Anna Kendrick, who’s growing disillusioned by show biz. “I really can’t do this anymore. I love acting, but riding the line between ’ho and hostess, I’m out,” she says. Then there’s Misty’s hook-up/drug dealer friend played by Adam Driver. Both actors are terrific. Rock, bless him, is out of his depth, showing a lot of Progressive car insurance actor energy.
Rock puts Misty in a city divided by haves and have-nots — homeless encampments on one side juxtaposed by men in suits who keep telling people experiencing homelessness that they’re not carrying any cash. Everyone here is cheating, gossiping and judging. A Birkin bag is the coin of the realm.
It’s the kind of town where the emergency room doctor tending to your wounds confesses that she’s a fan of your TV work and wants a selfie, or the young woman auditioning for the same part as you are remarking that her dad — her dad — really loves your work.
Early on, the widow of Misty’s sugar daddy bursts into their love nest apartment, demanding she leave immediately and cursing up a storm, but soon offers to run dialogue with Misty ahead of her audition. “Memorize your lines,” she advises. Hollywood, right?
Rock has created a complicated character in Misty, a talented singer and actor who delivers a brave cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” at a piano lounge, but who is also an egotistical, party-loving starlet. She really should stay home and memorize her scenes, yet ends up lured to a nightclub all night. Eleazar shows us all her flaws and yet we root for her; it’s a stunning performance from the “Slow Horses” star.
Rock slyly examines race in this setting, too, with a casting agent blurting out to Misty: “Are you mixed?” Seemingly every role for Black women is exploitative. Rock notes wryly that wherever you go, at some point in history, Black people weren’t allowed there. The TV news is blaring about a dead white college student and a manhunt for her killer; Misty’s brother suspects they’ll railroad a Black man.
Misty’s money, family and career woes all build to an almost-operatic decision — follow her craft and career or debase herself and earn a lot of money. Whatever happens, no one in this tawdry town will be dancing on air.
“Misty Green,” an A24 release that’s in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for “language, drug use and sexual references.” Running time: 103 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.
