Top Five

A standup-comic-turned-movie-star-in-dopey-comedies (Chris Rock, who also wrote and directed) submits to a ride-along interview with a reporter (Rosario Dawson) to publicize his latest movie, an attempt at a serious drama about the 1791 Haitian Revolution. This raunchy, witty, smart and cheerfully profane comedy just may turn out to be Rock's Annie Hall. Not that it's as good as Woody Allen's 1977 breakthrough—not quite—but in the sense that Rock shows, as Allen did back then, unexpected depth and perception about celebrity and personal relations to go along with his edgy comedy riffs. His conversations with Dawson crackle with intelligence and sexual chemistry, and a parade of guest artists—some playing characters, others as themselves—is folded into the mix with a minimum of awkwardness.