Misty Green

Misty Green is not, as they say, ‘likeable’. Not as a person, and not as a character. A B-list actress who believes she's an A plus, Misty is arrogant, irresponsible, and so prone to self-sabotage that we initially wonder if we're meant to root against her.

But because she's imagined with so much regard by writer-director Chris Rock, and played with so much ferocity by Slow Horses’ Rosalind Eleazar, she is also spectacularly enthralling. We watch Misty Green on the edge of our seats, wondering where she will land even as we can guess at the likeliest trajectory. 

Eleazar and Rock, however, manage to make a potentially clichéd story feel surprisingly fresh. He does it by openly acknowledging its depressing familiarity, through a lens of darkly wry wit. She does it by extraordinary force of focus and talent. 

Misty is the sort of actor perpetually in demand at LA parties, which fools her into thinking the world is still at her feet. She is gifted, gorgeous, and, at nearly 40, a decade past her prime. She won a Best Supporting Actress Emmy in 2008, and now she's auditioning against young women whose parents loved her.

That hurts, but she’s got bigger problems: she’s losing her free apartment (because her boyfriend's wife found her living there), her bipolar brother (Daniel Kaluuya, underused) seems increasingly unstable, and her reputation as ‘difficult’ has finally caught up with her.

if there’s any justice, this will land Rosalind Eleazar on top of every casting director’s list

The last time she worked with filmmakers Rhonda (a memorable Tracie Thoms) and Jordan (Rock), she came to their set so coked-up she was fired. But now they're casting a Dreamgirls remake, and her agent (Topher Grace) thinks she's got a shot. Unfortunately, this is also when she reconnects with Mephistophelean hanger-on Zach (Adam Driver, perfectly sleazy), in a relationship that requires her to choose between drugs, sex, money, and art. Since Zach is offering three of the four, the scale feels pretty heavily tilted.

Which is to say, Misty Green is not a subtle movie; we can very clearly see Rock adding the weights. But it works. Indeed, it’s his eye for blunt detail that provides crucial scaffolding around Eleazar's bravado turn: the casual racism that wears away souls, the professional dismissals borne with pained bluster, the quiet acknowledgement that sometimes, the effort just isn't worth it. As Zach puts it, Misty can fight to make $12,000 in Dreamgirls, or earn $200,000 (plus a Birkin) for one night only with an emir in Dubai.

The Dubai scenes are among the most memorable in their nonjudgmental evisceration of exploitation. But Rock is juggling so many ideas that some do fall short. An underwritten subplot about Green's best friend (Anna Kendrick), an actress desperate to marry money, feels cheap. And his own character is an unconvincing prince among all these thieves; Misty constantly abuses his trust, and he continually forgives her because of her talent.

To be fair, though, it's clear that Rock himself shares Jordan’s unwavering affection. After all, he's given both Misty and Eleazar the rare showcase they each deserve. The irony, of course, is that only one of them knows what to do with it. And if there is any justice in Hollywood, Misty Green will land her atop every casting director's A-list.

In US theaters from Oct 9.