CHRIS ROCK TO DIRECT HEAD OF STATE
January 16th, 2002
Yet another actor is making his directorial debut. Theres no stopping the kowtowing of studios to their stars -- even minor ones. Nic Cage is directing. (Fine.) George Clooney. (Fine.) Christina Ricci. (WHAT?!) Now Chris Rock. Im telling you, folks: directing is going to become what screenwriting is thought of today: something anyone can do; something that takes zero talent or know-how; something everyone should try their hand at.
Rock cant even act unless he has a rock-steady hand of a director holding him down. (See NURSE BETTY.) When he has no supervision, which he will not here, he turns in mannered performances wherein he sounds like hes reading from the script (see DOGMA and DOWN TO EARTH).
HEAD OF STATE, which Rock co-wrote with Ali LeRoi, is about an alderman plucked from his Washington, D.C., neighborhood and thrust into a presidential race as a replacement for a deceased candidate.
That sounds like a fun, Chris Rock-type movie, doesnt it? Wasnt Chris Tucker going to make a movie just like this...?
There is no one, right now, better at stand-up than Chris Rock. When hes writing that material hes brilliant. But as a screenwriter...hes a real good comic. DOWN TO EARTH, which butchered its source, was a lame attempt by Rock to go mainstream and it sucked all of his vitality away. When Rock is writing his stand-up, hes electric-charged and aware and relevant. When he turns to scripts, his mind wanders to innocuousness and gimmicks.
Rock will next appear in Joel Schumachers flick BAD COMPANY (you can find a review of the script -- by moi -- on this site); the movie co-stars Sir Anthony Hopkins. That flick, with its separated-at-birth twins story, should be funnier than HEAD OF STATE by a long shot.
-- Darwin Mayflower (darwinmayflower@yahoo.com)
Rock cant even act unless he has a rock-steady hand of a director holding him down. (See NURSE BETTY.) When he has no supervision, which he will not here, he turns in mannered performances wherein he sounds like hes reading from the script (see DOGMA and DOWN TO EARTH).
HEAD OF STATE, which Rock co-wrote with Ali LeRoi, is about an alderman plucked from his Washington, D.C., neighborhood and thrust into a presidential race as a replacement for a deceased candidate.
That sounds like a fun, Chris Rock-type movie, doesnt it? Wasnt Chris Tucker going to make a movie just like this...?
There is no one, right now, better at stand-up than Chris Rock. When hes writing that material hes brilliant. But as a screenwriter...hes a real good comic. DOWN TO EARTH, which butchered its source, was a lame attempt by Rock to go mainstream and it sucked all of his vitality away. When Rock is writing his stand-up, hes electric-charged and aware and relevant. When he turns to scripts, his mind wanders to innocuousness and gimmicks.
Rock will next appear in Joel Schumachers flick BAD COMPANY (you can find a review of the script -- by moi -- on this site); the movie co-stars Sir Anthony Hopkins. That flick, with its separated-at-birth twins story, should be funnier than HEAD OF STATE by a long shot.
-- Darwin Mayflower (darwinmayflower@yahoo.com)
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