‘Misty Green’ review: A scorching performance from Rosalind Eleazar powers Chris Rock’s thorny Hollywood satire | Reviews

Dir/scr: Chris Rock. US. 2026.104mins 

Much like its title character, the Hollywood drama Misty Green is angry, a bit of a mess and hard to shake. Chris Rock’s fourth feature is powered by Rosalind Eleazar’s expertly jagged performance as an actress who was once the next big thing, only to find herself floundering – partly because of the industry’s racism and sexism, but also because of her self-destructive tendencies. The writer/director’s ideas prove more compelling than his plotting, but this thought-provoking film asks tough questions about the challenges Black entertainers face, and about why creative women must often choose between stability and their art.

This thought-provoking film asks tough questions about the challenges Black entertainers face

Misty Green premieres as a Gala Presentation at Toronto, which hosted Rock’s previous feature, 2014’s Top Five. Perhaps best known for the UK Apple series Slow Horses, Eleazar should receive kudos for her risk-taking turn, and she is joined by Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya and Anna Kendrick. The film next screens at the New York Film Festival before opening in the US on October 9 through A24, with potential to appeal to viewers seeking a fresh take on a typical Hollywood tale.

About 20 years ago, Misty (Eleazar) won an Emmy for playing the one Black character on a popular drama, but since then she has burned bridges with her abrasive manner. Now practically broke, she stays in a dead ex’s apartment, unbeknownst to the man’s widow (Amy Landecker) who, when she discovers the situation. gives Misty a week to move out. Misty’s only hope is getting cast in a big-screen remake of Dreamgirls, directed by Jordan (Rock), with whom she has a rocky past.

Rock and Eleazar have conceived a fascinatingly exasperating character who consistently undercuts her talent through her behaviour. As her agent Randy (Topher Grace) acknowledges, Hollywood treats actresses badly – especially women of colour – but he also informs her that she squandered her rising stardom through poor decisions. (In one darkly amusing flashback, we see Misty audition for The Devil Wears Prada, her nose bleeding from cocaine use.) Misty Green weighs the industry’s discriminatory practices against Misty’s personal conduct, suggesting that both contributed to her downfall. But Rock argues that many in Hollywood have the same addiction issues and family trauma that plague Misty yet, because she is Black, she is afforded fewer second chances than her white and male peers. 

The film does not simply follow Misty’s misadventures but also creates a world of people around her who offer differing perspectives. Driver plays Zach, a sleazy industry insider who tempts Misty with drugs and parties – not to mention a rich payday in Dubai that would force her to debase herself for the horny, well-heeled locals. Her supportive friend and fellow actress Naomi (Kendrick) is considering settling down with a dull but successful businessman (Rich Sommer) because she is tired of the grind of endless auditions. And then there’s Jay (a terrifically intense Kaluuya), Misty’s beloved brother, whose violent mood swings caused by bipolar disorder make him a danger to himself and others. Misty Green inelegantly weaves in flashbacks to Misty and Jay’s harrowing childhood, but those moments give credence to the suspicion that her addictions may have stemmed from deep-rooted psychic pain.

A superb singer as well as a commanding presence, Eleazar plays Misty as someone who almost relishes the opportunity to shoot herself in the foot professionally. During one humiliatingly patronising audition in which Misty realises she will not get the part, she responds by making the situation compellingly awkward and charged. Misty’s impolitic bluntness constantly gets her into trouble, but Eleazar never lets the viewer forget that part of the character’s anger comes from the exhaustion of feeling racism’s effects at all times. To emphasise this point, Misty Green introduces a clever motif in which the characters keep hearing news updates about police searching for an unidentified Black man for the murder of a beautiful white student; this eventually puts the unstable Jay in the crosshairs of police racial profiling.

Rock’s fury at the world’s inequalities emerges in other ways, too. Many exterior scenes include homeless people in the background – a striking visual reminder of the extreme poverty in the so-called City of Angels. Money is a worry not just for Misty and Naomi but also for Jordan, who desperately needs a hit after a string of duds. Too often, Rock crafts convoluted obstacles for his protagonist, and a subplot in which Misty and Jordan bury the hatchet after he fired her from an earlier film alternates between insightful and schematic. But even when Misty Green’s faltering final stretches lead to an underwhelming resolution, Eleazar ensures that this fading star shines.