In the opening scenes of Misty Green, a new film from Chris Rock, a Black actor starts to perform her lines in an audition for the role of Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada. The whimsical, pastel color palette of the scene collides with her deadpan recitation of lines meant to convey nervous excitement. If this unevenness weren’t uncomfortable enough, Misty’s nose suddenly starts to bleed down to her white button-up shirt. It goes without saying that she doesn’t get the role. She hasn’t gotten much of anything as of late, and she is in a very bad place.
Misty Green is an out-of-work, Emmy award-winning Black actor with substance abuse issues and a penchant for affairs with married men. The propulsion for the film is that the widow of one of her now dead lovers is kicking her out of the luxury waterfront property that Misty claims was gifted to her by him. Misty, who’s played by Rosalind Eleazar, has seven days to find a new job so that she won’t become homeless. In a different director’s hands, this plot could have been a comeback story in which false starts lead to eventual triumph, making for a traditional feel-good movie. But with Rock’s treatment, the premise isn’t compelling enough to sustain a feature-length film.
