Chris Rock viciously criticizes Hollywood

After last year’s ego bath that was George Clooney’s “Jay Kelly,” directed by Noah Baumbach, I went into Chris Rock’s “Misty Green” with some trepidation. And more than a little fatigue.

Right away, here comes another movie about the difficulties of showbiz with a fictional actor as the title character. At this point, saying “fame has its drawbacks” is much like declaring, “taco has its tortilla.”

But this Hollywood vivisection, written, directed and co-starring Rock, is far more intriguing than “Jay Kelly,” in which an A-lister tediously lost his inner life to his global persona while in pretty Italy. It’s comparatively brutal, too. In the end, even if Rock’s better film doesn’t ultimately come together, it holds your interest with a frenetic push and jagged turns and features a stunner of a performance from Rosalind Eleazar. 

And damn is it murky and critical. Not many movie industry stories depict an actress deciding between starring in a prestige movie-musical to get her back on camera and jetting to the Middle East to rent her body out to a creepy sheik. The glamor of the red carpet conceals the fact that the latter underworld gig takes less time and pays a lot better. This is pure pessimism.

Misty, played by the invigorating Eleazar with equal parts charm and contempt, is a midlevel TV actress who’s best remembered for a regular role on a drama series called “Red Eye” that kind of sounds like “ER.” She won a best supporting actress Emmy. Now, it’s her career that needs a defibrillator — stat!

Unemployed and unmotivated, Misty wades around the world being half recognized. “‘Red Eye’ was my mom’s favorite show,” a chirpy younger actress gushes at an audition to the woman, who’s only in her thirties but can’t catch a break and is dead behind the eyes.

Nothing has been happening for her professionally. Genuinely gifted, she’s been living rent-free in a wealthy situationship’s apartment for four years. He’s just died, so she’s given the boot by his wife. She has no money. And she keeps picking delayed nights out partying and doing drugs over prepping for auditions. Misty’s life is in shambles.

We witness seven consequential days of it. 

Misty runs into a casting director named Jordan (Rock), who the actress had a coarse patch with on a long-ago project. He still believes in her talent and wants her to star in a recent film.

Rock, naturally, writes especially well for his own sense of humor. When it’s suggested that the reboot of “Dreamgirls” he’s working on includes no legit singers, he snaps, “What are we gonna do next? A karate movie with no kicking?”. 

However, tempting demons lurk all over Los Angeles. A filmmaker and occasional hookup of Misty’s named Zach (Adam Driver in full sleazebucket mode) keeps feeding her vices for his own gain.    

And Misty is held back by her disturbed brother Jay, played by Daniel Kaluuya. This murky character exemplifies the messiness of Rock’s script, which has a lot of dangling threads, perhaps on purpose. Jay seems to exist solely as a roadblock for her, but we never get a sense of who he is. That’s unfortunate, as it’s the brilliant Kaluuya’s first big-screen role since “Nope” in 2022. He doesn’t get to do nearly enough here.

Another odd hanger-on is Misty’s pal Naomi (Anna Kendrick), who has a taste for a certain kind of man outside of her relationship. Misty has to support her when that habit causes a problem. The whole ordeal comes across as another unnecessary detour. The scenic route.

Yet Rock uses these peripheral people to remind us that stardom doesn’t divorce somebody from normal adult responsibilities and annoyances. And it’s especially strenuous when you don’t have the cash to make them go away. He also wants Misty’s tumultuous week to be a stressful experience for the audience. He doesn’t quite reach Safdie-level anxiety, outside of an incident on the road, but achieves the California version of that. “Malibu Supreme.”

What “Misty” functions best as is a showcase for Eleazar, a little-known British actress who’s appeared in a few movies and should star in many more. That makes for the film’s most energizing contrast: A star on the rise playing a star all but forgotten.