(**½)

She never met an opportunity she couldn’t mess up. 

That’s how actress Misty Green (Rosalind Eleazar, Slow Horses) leads her life and career. So, it’s no surprise she’s close to being evicted from her Los Angeles apartment. The writing is on the wall when her sugar daddy’s wife gives her an ultimatum: “I’ll give you a week to get your stuff together!” Now Misty needs an acting job—and money—fast. She’s one of countless unemployed or underemployed actors hustling for work in Hollywood, so it won’t be easy. 

The premise and protagonist are surprising. Being broke and having few options in Tinseltown is as normal as L.A. sunshine. What’s distinctive is seeing this specific struggle through the eyes of a Black American woman whose despair, self-image and self-medication are inseparable. Even odder is that comedian, screenwriter and director Chris Rock created the project. He’s the mastermind. 

Come along for the ride, but realize that in Rock’s vision, getting to the end isn’t the real point. The daily grind and hustle are. Showing the insecurity of life post-stardom—its advantages and relentless disadvantages—is the game. As the former Emmy Award-winning TV actress pushes her agent (Topher Grace) to get work that he finds increasingly difficult to procure, you feel the pressure. She’s trying hard and fumbling all the way. Booze and drugs block her path. The self-sabotage is bad for her, but dazzling for an audience. 

Rock gives himself a co-leading role as Jordan, a film director whose history with Misty is complicated, “Last time I cast you, you punched this bitch in the face!” His future with her could be dicey, too. The script adds a needy, volatile brother Jay (Daniel Kaluuya): “I’m on my meds and will get a job.” It also gives Misty a chatty white best friend, Naomi (Anna Kendrick), who loves Black men and serves as her plus-one. To complicate Misty’s love life, there’s her on-again, off-again FWB pal Zach (Adam Driver), whose porn-star mustache signals his smarminess.

The opening is the film’s strongest sequence. As cinematographer Kira Kelly’s camera hovers over an irate rich woman’s shoulder, while she questions who’s holed up in her dead husband’s ritzy condo, viewers are thrown headfirst into chaos. Quirky and well directed, the ingenious beginning promises inventive filmmaking to come. But that doesn’t materialize—not consistently, anyway. There’s no discernible style, nothing particularly new. Subsequent scenes lack the verve of the first one. Also, the film isn’t hardcore realism in the Cassavetes tradition, nor is it consistently humorous or showy in its depiction of Hollywood. Hard to peg a technique or strategy. That said, what’s on view is competent. The staging, movement and performances are solid.  

The screenplay, with too many storylines, characters and philosophical rants from Rock’s character, feels jumbled. One fewer audition, erotic scene or drug-and-alcohol debauchery sequence might have helped. These distractions weaken a journey that might otherwise entertain audiences who like watching Misty’s life unfold like a train wreck. She obliges as you learn that the passion between Jordan and Misty is tangible, almost fated. He tries to put their fractured relationship back together. She rips it apart. They have a thing going. 

Jay, Misty’s needy and erratic brother, seems superfluous. A police dragnet involving a Black male suspect in the killing of a white student feels equally extraneous. The familial subplot and the film’s foray into social and racial issues seem less effective than its central character study. That’s its strength; veering away from Misty is its downfall. When she’s on screen, the movie holds your attention. She should remain the focus. 

Marcus Miller’s jazzy score gives the movie a cool, urban vibe while Kira Kelly’s cinematography contrasts Hollywood glamour with gritty streets. Michelle Patterson’s production design effectively shifts from a palatial boudoir to crowded nightclubs. Adam Dicterow’s editing keeps the 103-minute film on pace, though his task might have been easier if inessential characters and storylines weren’t crowding the footage.

Eleazar’s manipulative, scrappy take on this hard-luck thespian displays a dexterity worthy of acclaim: “I wake up when I want to wake up…sleep when I want to…get high when I want to… and f___ when I want to…”  Eleazar embodies that rebellious spirit convincingly. Rock seems comfortable as Jordan, lending his coolness to the footage. It’s on loan. Kendrick brings comic flair to Naomi. Driver is understated in a pivotal part. Kaluuya adds dramatic weight to his portrayal of the stressed brother. The entire cast benefits from Rock’s expressive and quick-witted dialogue.

This film is an opportunity Misty would mess up. But Eleazar might ride this has-been actress’s plight all the way to Oscar contention. Credit Chris Rock for creating a memorable character and entrusting Eleazar to bring her to life. 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACaWuqeLpSk.
Photo courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival. 
For more information about the Toronto International Film Festival go to https://tiff.net/. 
Visit Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.