Head of State (2003) User Reviews

Weak comedy with only a few laughs

[christian123 · 4/10 · 17 May 2005]

Head of State has a few funny moments, just not enough to sustain its running time. Mays Gilliam is about to be red-lined out of his job. But after the untimely death of the party frontrunner, Gilliam is plucked from obscurity, and thrust into the limelight as his party's nominee--for President of the United States. The players in Gilliam's life include: Mitch Gilliam, his unsophisticated older brother who becomes his running mate; Kim, his ex-girlfriend who had once dumped him, but who now has a sudden change of heart; Martin Geller, his campaign manager; Lisa Clark, the woman who truly believes in Gilliam; and Debra Lassiter, the woman who doesn't have faith in his candidacy, and is serving as his reluctant adviser. The plot sounds okay and it defiantly has potential since Chris Rock is attached too it. It didn't work out that way though as the film is just not very funny. I used to think Chris Rock was funny in films such as Dogma. Now after films like this one, Bad Company and Down to Earth, I'm start to think he has lost his touch. He is also the director so he could have changed something that he didn't like in the script. Bernie Mac is disappointing in this film as well and he didn't have a lot to work with either. None of the other cast members do much and their talents are wasted with this movie. Head of State isn't insulting it just gets really boring at times. Its actually a pretty short film at just 95 minutes long, though it defiantly feels a lot longer then that. The jokes are old and the film is pretty predictable as well. Its just a silly comedy though so its not worth really hating and taking too serious. Its just disappointing since it could have been so much better. In the end, this is a below average comedy and not really worth watching. Rating 5/10, skip this one.

recycled formula

[strus2001 · 17 April 2003]

Back in the late 70's and through the early 80's, Richard Pryor made a string of formulaic type movies, the formula being a street-wise black man is unexpectedly placed in a position of great responsibility or privilege for which he is totally unprepared: (Silver Streak, Brewster's Millions, Critical Condition, Bustin Loose). Inevitably, the hero not only succeeds in his newfound role, but excels, all thanks to his streetwise background, which allowed him to confound the numerous white people in these movies who were either thick-headed or cruel mercenaries. This formula, not surprisingly, ran out of gas before Pryor's health started to go downhill, just like the Elvis movie formula did. It was all very unfortunate, because it repackaged Pryor, a true hardcore radical comedian into a middle of the road movie star palatable to a broad based audience. He never reclaimed what he had lost, and neither did Elvis. "Head of State" recycles the same Richard Pryor formula, only updating it to a hip-hop fed generation. Chris Rock plays the Richard Pryor -type character, a Washington DC alderman who catches the attention of Democratic party headquarters as an innovative replacement candidate for the nominee who dies in a plane crash only weeks before the general election. The overall effect is the same watered-down comedy that the RP movies left me with. The backroom cunning and maneuvering is all supposed to look very devious, and Chris Rock turns it all to his advantage, outsmarting the professional politicians at every turn.

The attempted humor in this movie left me cold and annoyed. There were joking references to the assassination of Malcolm X and JonBenet Ramsey that I guess were supposed to make me laugh. They didn't, and nothing, absolutely nothing, in this movie did. The slapping, punching, and assault & battery incidents are continuous and an assault on the senses. Someone has been watching a lot of 3 Stooges. Robin Givens plays a disgruntled ex-girlfriend of the candidate who is repeatedly victimized. In light of her experiences with Mike Tyson, this seems to hit a new low in bad taste. Rock speechifies in his presidential debate scene on the benefits of knocking children in the head when they misbehave, and receives a standing ovation. Not funny.

The problem with a watered-down movie is that it always hedges its bets, flip-flopping between earthy comedy and the serious tones. This movie, which actually has an interesting premise, would have been a lot better if it had gone way over the top, and not pandered to any sense of reality or decorum, like say for example, "Animal House." Put Chris Tucker or Ice-T in the candidate role, with no attempt to be loved by the audience. Bring the 'hood to the White House, and rename it the Black House. Load it with sex, drugs, rock & roll, and FUN!

I couldn't help but feel cynical about the Hollywood establishment's political vendetta associated with this movie. Chris Rock's opponent has an identifiable Texas twang, is personally venemous and slow-witted. Sound familiar? This same establishment will also back liberal governors and senators with expensive haircuts, but has never seriously gotten behind a black presidential candidate. I guess if you produce a movie about it instead of making it happen, that excuses you.

Could be better.

[kyle_is_awesome · 6/10 · 21 August 2003]

I thought it was really funny but they should have taken out some really stupid parts. Like in the begginning of the movie Chris Rock girlfriend was terribly annoying. Some of the dialouge Chris Rock said was supposed to be funny but it wasn't. Some of the programs the goverment ran were really stupid and they just put it in there to make it PG-13. Ex: Prostitutes. Anyway... Bad company was a lot better. Rent that instead.

Written, directed and starring the Rock....Chris Rock

[Sinnerman · 8/10 · 26 January 2005]

In this film, the Vice President, who's the front-runner candidate for office in a coming election, often dispenses with below campaign sound bite at whatever opportunity he gets:

"I have been the Vice President for 8 years. I am a war veteran. And I'm the cousin of Sharon Stone. God bless America...and no place else."

With lines like these, what's not to like about Head of State?

Here's the premise of the film. Both the the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate of a "losing" party died when their planes crashed into each other (don't ask). With the election just weeks away, the party decided to intentionally look for a "loser" replacement candidate; one who will lose at a pegged percentage (not too much, not too little), and yet is capable of winning some "leverage" points for the next round of election. And they found Chris Rock. Enough said.

Pardon the cliché, but Head of State has to be seen to be believed. Hell, just its opening credits alone are LOL already. If you asked me, I would think this flick's mixed bag of humour (from no-holds barred low brow to smart insightful attacks on American electoral politics) worked only because it has been delivered the only way someone as comic-attuned as Chris Rock knew how. The business of making people laugh is a tough one. And IMO, Chris Rock is one of the best in the business.

Can you imagine a fluffier, more convoluted Bulworth crossed with the crude but often logical sensibilities of South Park - The movie? If yes, proceed to imagine lines hurled at you that's as zingy as a Kevin Smith vehicle (both the good and the really bad ones) and blatant slapstick's as throwaway LOL as those Airplane/ Naked Gun movies? Ladies and germs, if you can imagine all that, congrats! Because that is Head of State for you, nutshell cracked wide open. But whether you will swallow the nuts or not (I always chew first, then swallow), will depend largely on your threshold and expectation already.

We need not reminders that we all live in ludicrous times now, do we? So why not accord some of that time laughing at it all, relishing in the enjoyment of a film as ludicrously conceived as this one? Personally, I look upon Head of State as a brilliant political comedy. Its charm actually lies in its greater interest in comedy than politics. I am delighted to see this film juggle sly political wish fulfilment with the conscious play-it-up for laughs. Sometimes, strictly for laughs. So yes, I am won over and willingly lap this flick up.

Make no mistake, Head of State is a hit and miss movie. But its hits far exceed its misses. In fact, its hit rate is almost comparable to (and arguably higher than) the raunch-assisted Scary Movie. Its (sporadic) intelligence however, far surpasses the entire Waymon Bros output combined.

Hmm....its plain to see that the manic sinnerman love this movie. I have not been this entertained in very long time. Hence I shall willingly dispense you all this flick recommendation. If one pop this title into a player at any random night, I do think it will provide willing folks with an antidote release from the blues of a hellish school/work day prior. So people, go hunt for the Head of State now (pun unintended).

My word is out. God bless America....and no place else!

Just give me one good response

[policy134 · 3/10 · 4 September 2012]

You can tell that this was probably heavily cut down, maybe even from script phase. It looks like Chris Rock really did want this movie to have some kind of message, but either he lost his nerve or he did not know what it should say.

His alderman is made out to be a good guy who sincerely wants to help people. Why does he then turn 180, and becomes the guy who says everything that's wrong, but doesn't really provide any real solutions to the problems.

There is also a very schizophrenic feel about the show. It looks like Chris Rock (who should be blamed, because he is the director too) thought he should make his "Dave" or "The American President", but he also wants to make his "wayne's World" too. The character of his ex, played extremely badly by Robin Givens, feels copied from that particular movie. It could have been funny but it feels simply out of place in this serio-comedy.

And what is Tracy Morgan doing in this, other than turn people off. His character should have definitely be voted the most superfluous of the century.

Anyway, the good moments are the scenes between Rock and Dylan Baker, because he can actually act and gives the character a lot more than it deserves. The scenes with Rock gives his first impromptu speech also delivers, but it is all for naught because he doesn't give any answer.

Chris Rock could -- and *should* -- do much better

[argv · 30 July 2003]

Chris Rock has made an interesting name for himself. He's a black comedian who's been in almost 60 feature films; a writer and co-writer for movies and TV shows like Saturday Night Live; and is a man with strong political opinions. So, with all that talent and experience, you'd think that if he were to write and produce a political satire, it'd be a mix of biting comedy with a message.

If only that were the case with `Head of State.' Instead of biting satire poking fun at the political system, there's a collection of gag jokes that, in themselves are funny, but neither politically pertinent or satirical in any way. What's more the romantic-comedy subplot is way too prominent, elbowing out the main theme of the film.

Rock plays Mays Gilliam, a Washington, D.C. alderman, who's a man of the people. He not only does good things in his neighborhood, but even the drug dealers like him. When the existing democratic presidential candidates unexpectedly die, Gilliam finds himself selected by the party to replace them, all in the name of a politically ambitious underling who sets up Rock to lose in hopes of securing the nomination in the next election. Through a series of gags and mishaps, Gilliam not only gets elected, but gets the girl too.

The film certainly has the gags, many of which are genuinely funny. In fact, if it were all gags, a la `Airplane' and `The Naked Gun', then Rock's film would have been surprisingly refreshing. But, the humor was diluted by attempts at a serious side – both on the political front and the romantic front – and the script fails to know when one ends and the other begins. What's more, the serous or romantic sides to the film, gags notwithstanding, were just plain silly.

It's not that the formula doesn't work. It's been done many times before, such as `Dave', starring Kevin Klein, and Warren Beatty's `Bulworth'. In each case, the `candidate' was unlikely and over the edge, but their straight talk and unconventional approach to politics appealed to the people and resonated with movie audiences. In essence, using this theme as the platform for satirical poignancy was very effective (from an entertainment perspective, not necessarily as a valid social commentary). In the end, the reason these films worked is because it was clear where the gags end and the seriousness begins.

On a separate note with respect to today's current events, I couldn't help but notice that it's because of reality that this movie is actually more disturbing than it should be. In fact, it harkens back to the good old days of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Back then, people didn't take politics or world events seriously at all, as evidenced by the fact that we had actual, serious attempts at the presidency from people such as Donald Trump, Ross Perot, and yes, even Warren Beatty. You'd never see those names in mainstream press in today's environment. Perhaps `Head of State' should have been released during a time when society's perception of politics and the presidency wasn't so important. But today, it's just plain eerie and disturbing.

Toothless

[bix171 · 5/10 · 31 March 2003]

The real, angry Chris Rock doesn't put in an appearance until the final moments of this political satire (directed and co-written by Rock) but it's not enough to rescue what has come before. Rock's fantasy of being the first African-American to achieve the White House (although he's initially set up to fail by spin doctors Dylan Baker and a surprisingly funny Lynn Whitfield) is somewhat toothless by Rock's own standards. The problem is his altered perception of himself as a film star (as opposed to the established HBO black equivalent of Dennis Miller): he phonily positions himself from the onset as cuddly, concerned for the constituents of the ward he's an alderman for and reasonably ignorant of national issues; he's finally allowed to become self-aware only when his older brother (the always welcome Bernie Mac) intercedes. You keep waiting for Rock to change but when he does, it's first into a playa that comes up with glib quips in response to standard questions. (With barely a mention of foreign policy, they seem a bit stale). Only in the final debate against his opponent (Nick Searcy) does he let loose with some honesty and only then do the jokes carry some weight. Rock, making his directorial debut, opts for the equivalent of a made-for-TV movie with a flat look, very mild gags (there are not nearly enough white fright jokes but there is a fundraiser that turns into a dance party with elderly WASPs doing the electric slide, and opening credits that state Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, George Bush and Hillary Clinton, among others, `are not in this movie') and very little interest in being taken seriously. Warren Beatty covered this turf far more handily in `Bulworth'. With Tamala Jones as his love interest, Robin Givens (cleverly cast as a gold digger) and, unfortunately, only a couple of bits from Tracy Morgan.

A good political statement...A HORRIBLE Comedy!

[squall21287 · 1/10 · 17 August 2003]

It's obvious that Chris Rock had intentions of making a movie that preaches to the American public of the wrongs and injustices that many middle to lower class people face. I am all for that, and from a political standpoint, the movie made some very good points. However, when I go to see a Chris Rock movie labeled COMEDY, I want to watch a movie that is funny, not a movie that rambles on and on about politics. If this movie wasn't supposed to be a comedy, it would be very good indeed. However, this movie is supposed to be comedy, and seeing how the few scenes with Bernie Mac are the only comedic parts of the movie, I am forced to give this movie a low score.

2 out of 10

Mr. Rock has guts

[sillylizard · 8/10 · 12 March 2005]

Intelligent. Chris Rock has balls and he mixes old-school comedy (think SNL in the 80s) and current American politics. ie. both the republican and democrats are corrupt and greedy, with no one but themselves at interest when it comes to "The United States of America." But, as Mr. Rock points out in the commentary, this film is a comedy, and not intended to be a political commentary.

So why then did so few people think it was funny? Perhaps b/c they can't see the humour in their own country...how hysterical that the most God-blessed, powerful, and wealthy country in the world can be falling apart so badly. And that the government in election years must pretend to care about its citizens, when obviously they only care about the people who are handing them cheques.

Delightfully irreverent, Chris Rock steps up to the plate.

The Campaign

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 24 July 2018]

A film that feels remarkably aged and redundant after the 2008 US Presidential elections with the election of Barack Obama.

Mays Gilliam (Chris Rock) is a conscientious and hard working Alderman in Washington DC. After saving a woman and her cat from a building that is about to explode. Mays is plucked from obscurity to be the replacement presidential candidate when the previous dies in a plane crash.

Of course he has been selected so he can put up a plucky fight and lose, so their can be a serious candidate four years later. His rival is the hot favourite to win the election. He is the current vice president, a war hero and a cousin to Sharon Stone.

The film is mildly amusing, silly but falls way off base as a political satire. The script feels half finished and half baked. At times you feel that you are watching a series of sketches than a movie.

are you kidding me?

[myurkus · 13 August 2003]

I knew not to see this one in the theater, but I am pretty surprised at how bad it is. It seems forced and disjointed, and the only thing that kept me from shutting it off is that you never know when Rock or Mac will be funny for a scene. If Rock doesn't start taking better roles,if you have seen Down to Earth or that horrible flick with Hopkins you know what I mean, he is never going to be able to really get to the next level, which would be a shame. He reminds me of Eddie Murphy in the early eighties, getting off to a great start and then fizzling out(The Distinguished Gentelman? Talk about jumping the shark.) His character is bland and predictable, and it is hard to watch someone as funny as him play such a role. All of the supporting cast except for Mac is terrible, and the credits have more plot than the movie. The funniest parts,like him imagining himself getting shot after being elected, are just watered down parts from his standup,which is generally terrific. Bottom line, instead of catching this one, stare at the wall for an hour and forty. You'll be a better person for it.

Chris Rock was not annoying

[MLDinTN · 19 April 2004]

Generally, I find Rock very annoying in his films, but this one was different. He didn't do a lot of the loud mouth comments. The whole idea of this was silly, but it's a comedy. An alderman from a ghetto in DC is picked by a party to run for president when the other candidate dies. They pick someone who will lose because one of the other guys plans to run for president in 4 years. So of course, Mays decides to do his own thing and tell the people they should have more for their hard work and so on. He plays rap music at black tie parties, and decides to wear gangsta clothes. He rallies people around him and starts gaining approval from the masses. Along the way, he constantly hits on this gas station clerk. But, all of this is OK, but not really funny. The funny part of the whole movie is whenever Robin Givens was on screen. She plays a girl who dumps Mays in the beginning, but once she learns he's running for president, she follows him and acts all sweet and continues to plan their wedding. That part was hillarious.

FINAL VERDICT: Better than most Rock's other movies. It's worth watching if you are looking for a comedy.

Really funny

[michael94523 · 8/10 · 31 March 2003]

i am extremely liberal and went to this movie looking for some "republican/conservative" bashing. I got it.

A couple of my friends are slightly conservative and were afraid to see this movie. They laughed louder and harder than I did.

This is a good movie overall, with a mass-appeal.

Kudos to Chris Rock.

Step away from the director's chair

[jhenson6 · 3/10 · 21 November 2003]

Chris Rock delivers some funny moments, both as writer and actor, as you would expect. But the direction is amateur hour - by turns, static and awkward. The narrative flow doesn't, and the few laughs are punctuated by inane gags and flat writing. Chris Rock is often funny and brilliant, but as this fails in its efforts to be satire and slapstick. The satire is unfocused and often misses its targets; the slapstick is clumsy and, worse, not funny. A misfire by a talent who seems in over his head on this one.

Funny (and Visionary) Silliness

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 12 July 2016]

One candidate for the presidency dies in an accident a couple of weeks before the election. Meanwhile the alderman Mays Gilliam (Chris Rock) becomes a hero when he rescues a woman and her cat from an old house that would blow up. However his fiancée Kim (Robin Givens) does not pay his bills and dumps him, and Gilliam loses everything including his fancy car. When Senator Bill Arnot (James Rebhorn) sees the news on television, he plots a scheme with the party advisors Martin Geller (Dylan Baker) and Debra Lassiter (Lynn Whitfield) to invite Mays to be the party nominee and lose the election for the other candidate, Vice- President Brian Lewis (Nick Searcy). Four years later, he would be the candidate and would have the chance of winning the election. Mays has a terrible beginning of campaign but when his older brother Mitch Gilliam (Bernie Mac) meets him in Chicago, he advises Mays to be himself. Will he have the chance to be the first African American President of the USA?

"Head of State" is a silly film that every now and then makes laugh. The uneven plot has memorable scenes, like the party with the guests dancing or when Mays tells that God should protect the whole world; but there are stupid scene, most of them with Mitch Gilliam in interviews. But in general, this film is satisfactory and entertains. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Um Pobretão na Casa Branca" ("A Pauper in the White House")

Just not funny

[stahwang · 1/10 · 13 April 2003]

Something about Chris Rock's voice gives me a headache. He does the same old White ppl are geeks who cant dance jokes and sure they were funny the first time but this is like the fourth movie in a row with the same old bs. The story is lame. Only reason I watched this movie was because Bearnie Mac, problem is he has a rly small part. I left 15 minutes before the movie ended. This crap gets 1 out of 10.

Very funny and deeply satirical.

[dcripton · 8/10 · 28 March 2003]

This was just what the doctor ordered. At a time when I want to be critical of the government as well as be entertained, this was the film. The story is basically "Rocky" if he had run for president instead, but that doesn't detract from the laughs. All the performances have a high pitched feeling of Rock himself. Several bits that tap into his unique stand up presence as well. I recommend this film highly.

Stereotypical and racist

[rnesto_87 · 3/10 · 20 July 2005]

White people acting like idiots as soon as Chris Rock throws on a little Nelly at a fundraiser, behaving like wiggers, having large glasses and so on.

Black people acting like fools basically all the time, being stereotypical village idiots with no wits at all.

stereotypes that really does not help to sooth racial tension in any way, quite the contrary actually.

I gave it a three, if it wasn't for Bernie Mac I would have given it a one.

Awful!

Lacking intelligence and humor

[Stinger839 · 28 December 2003]

An incompetent, barely significant local DC official, Chris Rock, gets plucked from obscurity by a major political party, presumably Democrats though Rock doesn't have the guts (or perhaps intelligence) to name any parties, to run and lose against an uber-conservative sparkling generality pusher Vice President Lewis. Rock's socialist hip-hop, straight-talk campaign takes him all the way to the top of the polls.

Barely ten minutes into this movie, the viewer is convinced that its political content has been dumbed down for the audience, because of course everyone loves to be patronized. But by a half-hour into it, you realize that there is no shred of reality to be found; this is little more than one of Rock's favorite day-dreams that he somehow convinced a studio to fund into a poor movie (probably by emphasizing the fact that it's a "black president" comedy, and the industry has been dying to capitalize on that idea for years).

Besides its lack of political intelligence, it's just plain not funny. Rock establishes about five jokes in the beginning and keeps playing them over and over, unaware that they weren't particularly funny the first time. I had very high expectations for this film - a biting, controversial examination of America. Perhaps, I should have just watched Blazing Saddles again because Rock seems barely informed on his own race's history. This movie could set civil rights back 40 years if anyone took it seriously.

Even the most useless and unrealistic of political comedies (Legally Blone 2) had some genuine inspiring moments about refining the system and making it work. Head of State is absolutely painfully excrutiating. It is ignorant, humorless, promotes stereotypes and child abuse, and its only strength is its frequent use of a DMX song.

Skip this and watch Bullworth!

not even a smile

[waterloo-5 · 1/10 · 18 May 2004]

The man directed it and plays the main character. If someone has two jobs he usually isn't good in either. And this sure is true for Chris Rock... The music was lousy, the jokes were boring, the characters were wooden, the meat was rotten,

and even the super who wasn't that super

I can't think of one reason to watch this movie, the best use for the dvd is as a beermat.

Funnier than expected.

[lektroluv · 7/10 · 3 August 2003]

I've always thought that Chris Rock is a genius when it comes to stand-up, but the movies he's played the leading role in, for some reason, haven't been that good. The jokes have been copied off his stand up routine and the script has be so so.

But this one is different. It was actually very funny. I had a good gutlaugh several times and the movie made a pretty good point, too.

Both Chris Rock and Bernie Mac did a good job in this one. If you like Chris Rock's and Bernie Mac's stand up, I'd advice you to watch this.

Not completely straight-faced, but still a mediocre directorial debut from Chris Rock for the most part

[Beta_Gallinger · 5/10 · 24 September 2008]

This piece of political satire, starring comedian Chris Rock, who also co-wrote it and made his directorial debut with it, was released in 2003, but I didn't see it, nor did I even hear of it, until a couple years ago, when it came on TV and I watched it. I'm not sure if I even really knew exactly what it was about before I saw it, or what I was in for, but it turned out that what I was in for was a political spoof filled with mediocre gags, with only occasional funny moments. I watched it a for the second time last night, and it didn't seem to really improve, so I see no point in watching it a third time.

Mays Gilliam is a neighbourhood alderman in Washington D.C. Unfortunately, he ends up losing his girlfriend and being fired from his job, so things aren't looking up for him, but it's about to change. A presidential candidate, running against vice president Brian Lewis, has died in a plane crash, and Gilliam is soon selected to replace him! As the election draws near, Gilliam faces a number of challenges, trying to rise significantly in the polls (he starts out very low). It helps when his brother, Mitch, becomes his running mate, but it doesn't help that Mays doesn't know the real reason why he was chosen to run (because they were sure he would lose, and increase the chances of somebody else in their party winning the next election), nor does it help that Lewis is going to great extremes to discredit Gilliam with his campaign ads!

One example of an attempt at humour that fails is the scenes involving Gilliam's girlfriend (or ex-girlfriend), Kim, played by Robin Givens. She first appears just before she leaves Gilliam, with her tirade about how terrible he is, which is supposed to be funny, but I found it, well, maybe not quite annoying, but close. I would say the same goes for most of the other scenes involving the character (the film shows her trying to win back Gilliam after she hears about him running for president), but she's only a small part of the film. Bernie Mac, who amused me a lot when I watched "The Bernie Mac Show" a few years ago, plays Mitch Gilliam in this movie, and some moments involving him are amusing, such as how the two Gilliam brothers greet each other by socking one another in the stomach. (Since Mac died just last month, I guess now is an appropriate time for me to say R.I.P.) However, the humour, no matter which actors/characters are involved, rarely rises above mediocrity, and since the laughs are supposed to be a big part of "Head of State", that's not a good thing.

As I pointed out, and as you may have already known before, Chris Rock made his directorial debut with this 2003 comedy. Since then, he has directed another comedy movie, 2007's "I Think I Love My Wife", which he also co-wrote, like he did with this film. I haven't seen that second full-length directorial project from Rock, but it doesn't appear to be much more popular than this first one of his, so I might end up seeing it, but I'm in no hurry. As for "Head of State", which I have now seen twice but still can't write a very positive review of, I've seen MUCH worse comedies from this decade, the worst probably being "Epic Movie" (probably the worst excuse for a comedy I've ever seen), and the humour in this film is high above the disgustingly puerile "humour" you'll find in films like that, but this comedy still doesn't quite cut it. Due to the lack of laughs, I can see why it has never received very much attention.

The ego machine rolls on ...

[stuart-mcalister · 18 March 2006]

Sadly, what started as a fairly reasonable idea soon collapsed into the usual Chris 'I'm The Man' Rock ego trip. Written and directed by Rock, the normally intelligent citizens of North America are forced to digest a Presidential campaign, fronted by a soon-to-be red lined neighborhood alderman. As more and more characters are introduced into the plot, the film turns into a black-on-white power trip. Despite a reasonable monologue delivered during the Presidential debate, Rock would have us believe that by using street-slang and 'the black attitude' towards guns, violence and unemployment, it got him elected to the highest seat in the land.

Sorry, Chris, no.

Nice try but your ego got there first.

The Cradle Will "Rock".

[tfrizzell · 29 April 2003]

An angry commentary on American politics and the current state of the Republican Party today is made quite clear in "Head of State". Chris Rock stars as a relatively normal man who is having a string of bad luck in one of the roughest areas of Washington, D.C. A heroic rescue of one of his elderly friends leads to Rock getting in the spotlight. Meanwhile the Democratic presidential nominee for 2004 has tragically died in a plane crash. The party feels they have no chance in the election so they come up with an idea to sway minority voters so the Democrats (namely candidate James Rebhorn) can re-claim the presidency in 2008. Get the picture? Dylan Baker and Lynn Whitfield are the two campaign managers assigned to Rock's cause, but soon Rock starts running his own show. Throughout, the Republican nominee (goof-ball Nick Searcy, a character that is an unsympathetic carbon-copy of President George W. Bush) continues to lead the polls mainly because he has been vice president for eight years, is a war hero and is also Sharon Stone's cousin. However, Rock's antics quickly make him the darkest of dark horses in a tight race. Along for the ride also is love interest Tamala Jones, ex-girlfriend Robin Givens (in a psychotic role), personal assistant Stephanie March and the priceless Bernie Mac (in a part that is way too limited). Mac eventually becomes the running mate for Rock. The fact that he is Rock's older brother makes him the most trust-worthy person in a twisted circle. "Head of State" has shades of Warren Beatty's "Bulworth" all over it. Rock, however would rather shy away with sometimes silly comedy than tackling the issues like the aforementioned film did. The Republican Party has already boycotted this film due to the way they are portrayed and that fact has made the production go into a minor financial tail-spin at the box office (overall "Head of State" has been a disappointment economically speaking). Politics aside, the film ultimately fails due to Rock's shortcomings as a director and screenwriter. He definitely has some things to say, but the way he conveys his thoughts are such a jumble on the big screen that the film almost becomes tedious. Rock has a likeable cast and yet he tries to carry the show by himself. This is not a very good thing in the end. Overall I do respect Rock's views and I do think he made a movie that pushes the envelope on some issues in the U.S. today, but in the end "Head of State" is just another potentially good production that never does rise to expectations. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Nice try, but really falls short.

[jdollak · 3/10 · 17 April 2003]

Minor spoilers.

I've often thought that Rock's comedy tends to be full of appropriate insight. I'd understand why it wouldn't appeal to some people, but usually his heart is in the right place. And his heart is in the right place with this. But Rock doesn't have the appropriate restraint to let his points be heard. He starts off with a good idea, but he manages to completely slaughter his idea by pushing it into area that shows a lack of respect. The only example I can remember clearly enough (but I felt this way through most of the movie) is during his ending debate. His opponent asks why he's running, since he's an amateur. Rock begins with a good response that has a good amount of humor to it. He digresses into name calling, eventually telling the opponent that he's the amateur in understanding people (or something to that effect). Come on, take the moral high road. There are good satires on American political system, but this is not one of them. Go watch Bob Roberts or Wag The Dog. Please.