‘Misty Green’ Suffers From Aimlessness and Relentless Misery [REVIEW]

Never before have I watched a movie that hated its main lead this much.

A Movie About Nothing, For No One

Written and directed by Chris Rock, “Misty Green” is about a vocally talented actress who lacks a sense of purpose after her big breakthrough years ago. She is a deeply unlikeable person, with a bipolar brother, a confusing variety of friends, and a self-sabotage streak that runs miles deep.

Rosalind Eleazar really digs in to bring some humanity to this role, but it’s hard when it feels like the script absolutely hates her. No matter what she does, an anvil drops on her head. Her entire (unearned) world is turned upside down when the wife of the guy’s apartment she’s squatting in comes home and evicts her. She downs drugs every chance she gets, which continues to put her in worse positions. It was hard to watch this movie, let alone finish it.

A Strange Assortment of Loved Ones

Despite the misery porn of it all, the movie really doesn’t have much to say. The other characters that orbit Misty’s world are barely fleshed out, including, but not limited to her bipolar brother, Jordan “Jay” (Daniel Kaluuya), her dealer “friend,” Zach (Adam Driver), her random friend that adds nothing to the story, Naomi (Anna Kendrick), and another Jordan played by the director and writer himself, Chris Rock, a casting director that hires and sometimes flirts with her.

Jay’s behavior caused by his mental illness is treated with the same amount of grace and nuance as a car crashing into a storefront. It felt like the movie wanted to say something about Black men and mental illnesses, but is too busy giving Misty a wedgie and stealing her lunch money. Rock would rather bully his lead character than fully dive into a racist system that not only disproportionately hurts men like him, but prevents any sort of harm reduction or care.

But hold on, let’s go back to Zach and Naomi real quick. “What is the point of this character?” I asked myself at least twice, watching Naomi be awkward at dinner and then, later, fret about her cheating vs. staying with the man who loves her. She often became background noise, which is crazy for an actor of her caliber. Kendrick was absolutely wasted in this role, with her sole purpose seeming to be asking Misty for drugs and the actress turning her down. Growth, right?

Driver’s Zach felt much more in-line with the Misty we’ve met so far and her self-destructive tendencies. Driver is so wonderful playing an absolute sleezeball, one of the very few highlights of the film. Rock as Jordan? Not so much. His wooden performance and over-reliance on squinting his eyes to convey emotions were distracting and took me out of every scene. There were times when it felt like he was just playing himself, so honestly the audience never gets a real idea of who this guy is supposed to be.

Senseless and Wildly Varying Tones

I’m not entirely sure who this movie is for and the tone of it matches that confusion. There’s scenes that have the makings of real introspective art, while others feel like straight-up slapstick comedy. At one point, it leaned into romantic comedy territory because of its persistence in making the lead actress flirt with the director of the movie. Misty’s whole motivation for trying to change because this man yelled at her was so incredibly annoying and felt opposite of what her established character would do. The inconsistencies between tone and character traits made for an unpleasant viewing experience.

We go from that vibe back to intense family drama, because Jay thrashes the apartment Misty got evicted from, which leads his sister to sacrifice a second chance for herself in order to save him. I’m not going into it too much, but the entire Dubai scene and storyline left such a poor taste in my mouth. 

There’s nothing that screams, “I HATE WOMEN,” more than writing and filming a scene where a bunch of women physically fight each other for some damn Birkin bags and diamond necklaces. I know “it’s just a movie,” but it was denigrating and humiliating to women everywhere for no reason. There are ways to write and show Misty’s financial dilemma and subsequent decision without resorting to open-air misogyny. 

Randomly, though, the Busta Rhymes performance that’s layered through this gross scene was another highlight. Sure, it was a cheeky nod to celebrities getting paid by Saudi princes to perform like circus animals, but who doesn’t bop their heads to “Touch It” when it’s playing?

Rock’s Noted History With Black Women

Let’s discuss the elephant in the room. Rock has a colorful history of speaking for Black women and making us the butt of his jokes. This famously came under fire a few years back. I bring this up because “Misty Green” feels like the latest in Rock’s weird humiliation ritual that no Black women consented to.

There’s also his particular obsession with biracial Black women that pops up a couple times in the film; when Misty was auditioning the first time, a casting director asked if she was “mixed” or “biracial.” Later on, Rock’s character joked that he finds any biracial woman sexy, even if their dad was Black and their mom was a hamster. Moments like that were continued opportunities for Rock (through his charcter) to humble this woman, while also fetishizing her to her face.

Last Thoughts

Perhaps I’m reading too much into this. Maybe “Misty Green” is just a terribly-made movie with no deeper meaning, which is unfortunate for Eleazar, because she really did the best with what she could. I never truly got to empathize with Misty, because the script wouldn’t let us. I couldn’t relate to her, because the camera sought to reduce her to an object rather than view her as a person. Rock truly missed with this one. He tried to go for something poignant, but it ended up being a miserable ball of nothing.

“Misty Green” is currently playing in select theaters.