Considering his recent impressively nuanced turn in Julie Delpy’s 2 Days in New York (to which this owes a passing debt), writer/director/star Chris Rock’s tale of a comedian wanting to be taken seriously by a journalist with whom he wanders the NYC streets really should be a lot better. Rock is Andre Allen, famous for playing a crime-busting cinematic bear, now attempting to reinvent himself with a tale of slaves in revolt that is leaving auditoriums empty. All his audience care about is his forthcoming marriage to reality star Erica Long (Gabrielle Union) and watching YouTube footage of him messing up while drunk or stoned, a problem for the now teetotaller. Rosario Dawson gives it her best shot as the journo with secrets of her own, but Rock’s crass reliance on misogynist hooker gags and hot-sauce-up-the-ass homophobia routines means that an Adam Sandler cameo hardly seems out of place. A galaxy of stars line up to lend cameo support (Whoopi Goldberg, Kevin Hart, Jerry Seinfeld), but this is Rock’s self-congratulatory show all the way.
