Misty Green review: Chris Rock viciously criticizes Hollywood

Running time: 103 minutes.Rated R (language, drug use and sexual references).

In theaters Oct.9After 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 interesting 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 dark 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 exciting 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...