Misty Green feels less like a fully realized film and more like a collection of interesting ideas that never quite come together.
Written by Elizabeth Mulloy
The last time Chris Rock directed a feature film was all the way back in 2014 with Top Five. The film was met with critical acclaim for its ability to strike a balance between comedy and drama, following an actor struggling to find himself after being typecast throughout his career. Needless to say, it has been a while since we have seen Rock work behind the camera. His latest feature, Misty Green, follows a similar premise to Top Five; however, the more I think about the film, the worse it ages.
We follow Misty Green (Rosalind Eleazar, Slow Horses), an actress who has fallen on hard times. Ever since breaking out and winning an Emmy Award in 2008, she has struggled to sustain that success. Over the years, she has developed a reputation for being difficult to work with, along with a well-known substance abuse problem. Despite everyone in Hollywood, including Misty herself, knowing that she is a talented actress, many are unwilling to work with her because of her self-destructive behaviour. Desperate for a comeback and on the verge of homelessness, Misty finds herself running out of options, as no one is willing to take a chance on her.
Misty Green is at its best when it focuses on its self-destructive yet fascinating character study of a woman who is simply trying to find herself again in one of the most toxic industries in the world. There is something genuinely compelling about watching Misty struggle to put her life back together while knowing that, in many ways, she is her own worst enemy. She knows she is talented, the people around her know she is talented, and yet she continues to make decisions that push away the very people who could help her get her career back on track. It gives the character a tragic quality without making her completely sympathetic, which makes her journey all the more interesting to watch.
Led by Rosalind Eleazar, who gives the performance of her career, it is hard not to become swept up in Misty's journey. Eleazar does an excellent job of portraying someone who can be incredibly difficult to root for one moment and surprisingly vulnerable the next. Whether she is sitting across from another casting director, walking into yet another audition, or trying to convince herself that she still has what it takes, there is an underlying desperation to her performance that makes Misty feel like a real person rather than simply another Hollywood cautionary tale. You want to see her succeed, not necessarily because she has earned it, but because you can see just how badly she needs to prove to everyone. More importantly, to herself, that she is still capable of being the actress she once was.
Sadly, this is where Misty Green begins to lose me. This story, which should be the emotional backbone of the film, makes up maybe a third of the runtime before the movie begins burying itself under too many other ideas. What starts as a focused character study gradually becomes increasingly scattered, with the film constantly introducing new themes, conflicts, and directions instead of allowing Misty's story to breathe. There is a genuinely great movie buried somewhere within Misty Green, and whenever it stays focused on Misty herself, you can see exactly what that movie could have been. Unfortunately, the film seems far too interested in exploring everything else around her, ultimately taking away from the character who makes the story worth watching in the first place.
There is a subplot involving Misty’s brother, played by Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), who is struggling with bipolar disorder while also dealing with police brutality and racial profiling. Then there is another subplot involving Misty’s friend and cocaine dealer, Zack (Adam Driver, Marriage Story), who attempts to pimp her out to an Abu Dhabi prince so she can make some quick money. And that is only the beginning. The film continues to introduce one idea after another, jumping from one storyline to the next without giving any of them enough time to properly develop.
None of these ideas are necessarily bad on their own, and there are moments where you can see the movie trying to say something meaningful with them. The problem is that Misty Green simply has too much on its plate. Instead of building upon Misty’s story, these various subplots constantly pull the film in different directions, making it increasingly difficult to understand what story it actually wants to tell. By the time the credits roll, there are so many different ideas competing for attention that the central story of Misty trying to rebuild her career and her life gets almost completely lost in the shuffle. With so many different stories being told at once, the one story that I actually wanted to see ends up struggling to come through.
In terms of Chris Rock as a filmmaker, he certainly shows a lot of potential as both a director and a writer. There are moments throughout the film where you can see the filmmaker he could become, particularly in the way he handles Misty as a character and explores the darker side of Hollywood. Sadly, Rock bites off more than he can chew, and the story of Misty Green ultimately gets buried under far too many ideas and subplots.
What makes this especially frustrating is that, despite having so much to say, Rock rarely brings anything particularly new to the conversation. Much of what the film has to say about Hollywood, the exploitation, the desperation, the substance abuse, the pressure to remain relevant, and the way the industry chews up and spits out its talent are ideas we have seen explored countless times before. Rather than finding a fresh perspective on these subjects, Misty Green often feels like it is simply repeating the same observations we already know. There is a good film somewhere within Misty Green, but Rock's inability to narrow his focus ultimately prevents it from reaching its full potential.
What makes Misty Green even more frustrating is that there is a genuinely great character study buried somewhere underneath all of the noise. Eleazar gives a phenomenal performance as a woman desperately trying to put her life and career back together, and Chris Rock shows enough potential behind the camera to make me interested in seeing what he does next.
Unfortunately, the film constantly gets in its own way, throwing so many ideas and subplots at the audience that it loses sight of the story that actually works. By the end, Misty Green feels less like a fully realized film and more like a collection of interesting ideas that never quite come together. There is something worth watching here, but unfortunately, it is buried under everything else Rock wanted to say.
Misty Green had its world premiere on September 12th at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival and will be released in theatres on October 9th.
Photo: TIFF
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