Head Of State

HEAD OF STATE

Rating: C-

Stand-up comedian Chris Rock plays a Washington, D.C., alderman who works his butt off for his constituents. When the presidential candidate for the (implied) Democratic party dies in a plane crash, party leaders realize they're in a jam for the upcoming election. Figuring they're going to lose anyway, they decide to select a candidate who'll help expand their voter base for the election four years from now. So out of the blue they draft Rock, who just earned heaps of media attention for saving a woman and her cat from a building explosion. Better yet, he's black.

What starts off as an edgy premise with potentially something to say regarding the mores of politics and society soon becomes too timid for its own good. It's no accident that one of Rock's campaign handlers is white (Dylan Baker), and one is black (Lynn Whitfield). When they're shamelessly deceiving and manipulating him, Whitfield's participation shows it's not an issue of racial subjugation. Conversely, when the three settle their differences and start working as a team, Baker is there to show that all white people aren't the bad guys. Director and co-writer Rock tries to make his film inoffensive to everyone, which in itself is fine, but in the process any bite the humor may have had gets watered down into a very bland concoction.

The major problem is the film's simply not very funny, which is a rather serious drawback for a comedy. You could probably count the total number of laughs on one hand, and have a few fingers left over. There's a running gag with Robin Givens as Rock's gold digging ex-girlfriend which simply never works. Even some of the one-liners which could've elicited a giggle are sabotaged by bad timing from the actors, which is usually the fault of the director or the editor. The filmmakers should've made more of Rock's acerbic observations about contemporary American society, such as when he asks, "Why is it people can buy cocaine and heroin cheaper than prescription drugs?" or "How come the people who work in the city can't afford to live there?" In short, Chris Rock should've made the film more of a Chris Rock movie. Instead, it gets bogged down with far too many scenes which degenerate into pure silliness and could've featured any actor in the lead.

For a feature film, there are an abundance of onscreen indications of a very low budget. While low production values don't automatically render a film bad, here they're evidence that the entire project was made for a quick buck. Presumably, the studio is looking for a big opening weekend, before word of mouth gets around and ticket sales take a swan dive. Or maybe the studio simply couldn't get much backing for Rock's first attempt at directing. Or maybe the execs felt the script was unsalvageable, and offered to let him make it only as a cheap exploitation venture. Whatever the reason, the ticket price is just as high, so you'll have to decide if a half-hearted effort is worth plunking down your nine bucks at the window.