Top Five (2014)

This was another good film.
Andre Allen (Chris Rock) is a former stand-up comedienne, and alcoholic who is trying to be taken seriously. But his latest film, on the savage uprising of a Haitian slave who killed over fifty thousand white people in his quest for freedom is a flop. None agree with this more so than New York Times reporter James Nielsen.
Andre is also set to be married to the reality star, Erica Long (Gabrielle Union) so his every move is being captured for her benefit.
Enter the journalist Chelsea Brown (Rosario Dawson) another recovering alcoholic and single mom. Once she arrives, you know that Chelsea and Andre are going to end up together and they do, though not in the way you would expect.
Though this relationship is the heart of the film as Chelsea tries to get the real truth out of Andre, like why he stopped being funny and what truly inspired him to get and stay clean. As it turns out, a false rape charge was one of his inspirations along with Erica's support. But Erica is also annoying and doing everything for the camera. Andre certainly did love her, at one point, but now he is mostly with her out of obligation. And she is also annoying him. But there is another hurdle, Chelsea has a boyfriend and seems to be totally into him. However, Brad (Anders Holt) arrives and it is heavily implied that he is gay so Chelsea quickly ends things with him.
Only then, a curve ball is thrown. Chelsea turns out to be James Nielsen, the writer who proclaims to not like Andre's new material. So things get ugly. Andre tosses away four years of sobriety and immediately after finishing his first beer, he attacks a display of his comedic character that he is sick of and ends up in jail. Which doesn't last long.
At the end, each character is fine going their separate ways only then Andre finds a high-heeled shoe in his gift bag from his fancy bachelor party leaving him with a look on his face. He is going to turn around and go after Chelsea just as his handler, Silk (JD Smoove) told him to.
It is not going to be an easy break-up between him and Erica but it would be better for him in the long run, as Erica is all about the camera as she has no other talent and that scares her while Chelsea dabbles in many, including photography.
The film is also an interesting twist on Cinderella. Chelsea declares that her daughter is doing a school project on Cinderella and gives her new twist on the traditional tale. Which is why Chelsea places her shoe in the gift bag. The ball is now in Andre's court.
While the film is incredibly enjoyable, there are some problems with it, including the many characters from Andre's past who are great and give the film some truly funny moments but they are poorly explained which is a shame.
But the message of this film is good and Andre's fear is real. He wants to re-invent himself after his recovery but that means his reputation is in danger along with his career. Sometimes just standing on your own two feet is all you can manage for the day. Grade: B+