I wanted to love this. I really did. A comedy written and directed by a world-famous comedian should be amazing, right?! (I'd also read this rave review in the LA Times so went in with really high expectations which seldom works out well...)
Alas, this film from Chris Rock, also starring Chris Rock, is a liked-but-not-loved kind of scenario for me.
He plays stand-up comedian Andre Allen in this film and Andre is trying to break the mould he finds himself in after appearing as Hammy the bear in a trilogy of action comedy movies. He's also in a loveless relationship with a reality TV star - think Kardashian.
It's hard to escape the fact that the storyline is just so predictable. I did laugh a bit (the scenes where Andre goes back to hang out with his family who don't cop his 'rich & famous guy' thing are very funny and Chris Rock/Andre Allen doing stand-up was also great) but nowhere near as much as I hoped I would in a film from someone with this comedy pedigree.
In the interests of fairness though, I present this very positive review in Rolling Stone magazine, also good if you'd like to read more on the story.
Here's the trailer.