I’ve never been a fan of Chris
Rock. By that, I don’t mean I dislike
him. I don’t. But he doesn’t truly impress me either. I liked his voice work in Madagascar and Osmosis Jones, and whenever I see him in live-action, I just find
him okay. He can be funny, but supposedly
being an all-time comedy great, he doesn’t really strike me as riotous and distinctive. There was even a time where I mixed him up
with Chris Tucker.
Could it be that it’s because Rock’s real
strength is on standup rather than acting?
After all, I haven’t seen him perform standup before… until Tamborine, his new Netflix special.
The first thing I noticed about
it is the fetching, crisp production value.
The set and stage look classy.
The lighting is fantastic. And
it’s very-well shot (this and Norm MacDonald’s special are the most
visually pleasing Netflix specials I’ve seen). It’s so HD that the dust floating under the
light and Rock’s occasional shower of spit are very noticeable. And all these make the entire special good to
look at, helping tremendously in maintaining its audiences’ attention.
As for Rock’s set itself… it’s
funny. I chuckled a couple of
times. But I can’t remember ever laughing
out loud. And with his social commentaries,
there were some parts where I didn’t agree with, as I thought his pres uppositions were flawed. However, there were more parts where it got
stimulatingly insightful, sensible, and even heartfelt. And he dropped a lot of truth bombs.
I’m almost certain that Rock is no conservative. Yet a good amount of his thoughts here are the kind you would expect to find from a conservative’s talking points.
For example, he observed
that kids now are being babied too much by society and school – feeding them
with fantasies like how “special” they are or they can be “anything” they want
to be, instead of exposing them to cold reality and truly equipping them for it. Reading between the lines, he was basically lambasting
such soft, pandering pedagogy, as it cultivates a wimpy, whiny, narcissistic, snowflake
generation with a gross sense of entitlement (which is very apparent now).
This even led him to later argue that bullies (which you can take
literally or a metaphor for antagonism and challenges) are necessary in growing up. For the experience of getting bullied will help a kid to toughen up
and stand up for himself, preparing him for the harsh realities of the real
world when he becomes an adult, as real life is full of bullies.
But the highlight is probably his
meditative stretch on love, marriage, and relationships. Showing vulnerability by using his failure as
a husband, porn addiction, and broken marriage as material, he drives his
points thoroughly home. It’s an extremely thoughtful and sincere segment. And the crux of this is the reason for this
special’s title.
In the end, this special didn’t
change on what I think of Chris Rock as a comedian. However, I did begin to respect him a bit more. As a standup comedian, as I found out from
this special, he has this preacher-y kind of charm when he goes on a roll, and he
does have some nice, weighty insights to share.
Thus, I will be also watching his
next Netflix special (his deal with Netflix involves two specials). Who knows.
Maybe that one will finally make a fan out of me.
No comments:
Post a Comment