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Head of State
Movie Stats & Links |
| Starring: |
Chris Rock, Bernie Mac, Robin
Givens, Tamala Jones |
| MPAA Rated: |
PG-13 |
| Released By: |
Dreamworks Pictures |
| Kiddie Movie: |
It's more adult
material. |
| Date Movie: |
She might laugh a
little. |
| Gratuitous Sex: |
Hinted at. |
| Gratuitous
Violence: |
Brotherly
fighting. |
| Action: |
Nah. |
| Laughs: |
Some good ones. |
| Memorable
Scene: |
The reaction when
Mays says "The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire!" |
| Memorable
Quote: |
Mays to the
Republican candidate, during the televised debate: "You are
full of shit!" |
| Directed By: |
Chris Rock |
| Produced By: |
Michael Rotenberg,
Ali LeRoi, Chris Rock |
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Head of State
A Movie Review |
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Every time Chris Rock has a movie coming out I root
for him and each time I see one of his movies I wonder why. As a
stand-up comic he is brilliant, but as an actor there is something
that just doesn’t click. In "Head of State" things just don’t click
again. Don’t get me wrong, the movie isn’t horrible, but it just seems
to fall due to the potential it had.The Democrats have a problem –
their candidates for President and V.P. both die in a plane crash. So
the party heads decide it’s time to run a black person for President,
knowing he’ll lose, so that when the next election comes around their
white candidate will get the minority vote because they at least tried
to get a minority to be the top dog. They pick Mays Gilliam (Chris
Rock), an ex-alderman from D.C. whose life just went in the toilet.
So the party heads keep giving Mays boring speeches that don’t say
anything, keep him dressed up, and it’s on to Chicago where Mitch
(Bernie Mac) enters the picture. Mitch is Mays’ brother and he tells
Mays that he needs to start giving speeches with meaning, telling
people where he stands. And so Mays does, and of course the people
love him. So now Mays changes his campaign strategy to be one with the
people, and now Chris Rock gets to be Chris Rock, whooping and
hollerin’ about the man keeping the people down, but no one still
wants to be Mays’ running mate. Who else to call but your brother, so
here comes Mitch telling an interviewer that he doesn’t know anything
about NATO, but throwing it back in his face that the interviewer
doesn’t know anything about Nato (trust me, it’s pretty funny). And,
oh yea, there is of course a love interest, love psychotic, the
typical old white people dancing to black music, and Chris Rock again
trying desperately to be funny while Bernie Mac shows how it is done.
The problem I’m starting to have with Chris Rock in movies is that
at one time he is this sensitive guy, reasonable guy, trying to act
like the sensitive, reasonable guy, and then, all of a sudden, he is
Chris Rock being the stand-up comedian. This movie does the same. At
the beginning, when he is the alderman, he acts, and maybe normal
isn’t the right word, but he isn’t Chris Rock the comedian, but when
he gives the speech in Chicago, all of a sudden he is totally out of
the character he led us to believe he was, and he’s over-the-top.
"Head of State" pokes a lot of fun at politics, how bland political
races are, and is pretty funny at times, but at other times the movie
just seems to crawl along with typical black/white humor. Bernie Mac
should have been used a hell of a lot more in the movie because from
the get-go we knew exactly what kind of person Mitch was, and Mitch
always stayed the same, but at any given moment we really didn’t know
which Mays character we were going to get. It’s 2 stars out of 5 for
"Head of State." I recommend a rental, or wait for cable. There are a
few good moments, but too few to recommend a trip to the theater.
That’s it for this review! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!! |
