Diractors is an ongoing series in which Hassle writer Jack Draper examines films, new and old, whose directors are better known for their work in front of the camera.
Comedians have had a pretty good track record here on Diractors, from Richard Pryor’s Jo Jo Dancer to Albert Brooks’ Lost in America. What’s most interesting in those films is how their creator’s voice as a stand-up is changed or expanded on through a narrative film. No other filmmaker could understand what exactly to tap into, therefore the comedian had to do it themselves. Even outside of being a comedian Diractor, making your own movies is seen as just another way to elevate one’s career after a variety of years in the industry. Enter Chris Rock, who made it clear from this interview, “I chose to direct to protect my script and for no other reason, nor a tremendous urge to direct. Didn’t want to see my script diluted and wanted the uncut dope on the screen.” Which is just as funny and direct of a reason you’d see in the very funny Head of State
Mays Gilliam (Rock) is an alderman from Washington, DC. Mays is “someone who you call for the problems the mayor can’t fix,” a man who tells it like it is. Following the sudden news that the top Democratic presidential candidate has died in a plane crash, Mays, who has just heroically rescued a woman’s cat out of a burning building, is jokingly eyed for a nomination. It’s decided by Senator Bill Arnot (the great James Rebhorn) that selecting Mays is a win-win situation; not having him win is a loss the party is willing to take, and if he does win he can be a puppet for the party, solely listening to advisors Martin Geller and Debra Lassiter (Dylan Baker and Lynn Whitfield). As the token Black candidate, Mays refuses to stay complacent in the centrist, neoliberal mold, instead using the natural charisma that made him likable as alderman to great effect in the presidential race against the incumbent Bryan Lewis (Nick Searcy). After a start to the campaign that made Mays out to be someone who was inexperienced and out of his depth, the smearing against Lewis that rallies the people behind Mays. (Some of the best jokes of the movie are the insults hurled at Lewis, like how he loves cancer or Bin Laden loves him)
I was cautious watching this thing to see if it felt expired as a relic from Bush era satire, an era I really wasn’t cognizant of. Instead, this was great and just proves that things don’t change in America. As it happens, I watched Head of State the weekend before the New York mayoral primary election– crunch time to make some actual change in the Democratic party. Zohran Mamdani stands in direct opposition to Andrew Cuomo, the “radical” versus the establishment. Never in my life have I seen a democratic candidate not be the “lesser of two evils,” nor have I ever been a New Yorker. I’m very anxious about this. It’s a resonant feeling seeing the idealism of Head of State. A political divide that has me continually nervous, while a movie like this just proves again what America is great at is how to keep the status quo. Rock clearly taps into something with how Americans are ready to rally behind something new in whatever shape that may be. Along with screenwriter Ali Leroi, there’s enough here to laugh with and avoid being talked down to.
Some of the best jokes of the movie are about disrupting the system while being in the right onto what the people want from him. Lines like “How many of you, right now, work two jobs just to have enough money to be broke? That ain’t right.” It’s an idea that political satire loves with this guy who is speaking for the ordinary American, only for them to gain more popularity than we are initially meant to believe. Thinking of fellow diractor Warren Beatty in Bulworth, Kevin Kline in Dave, Eddie Murphy in The Distinguished Gentleman or even a bit of Andy Griffith in A Face in the Crowd. But Rock was never focused on being a satirist for the 21st century. Maybe someday I’ll get around to Top Five or I Think I Love My Wife, but he made movies that I think are in the same realm of reasoning for Head of State in how he can’t allow for another director to bring his script to life.
Chris Rock is perfect for the Mays Gilliam role. His stand up style is one of a preacher and running for office is one to take a stage yet again. Its in this era too where Rock is in full control of this persona on stage and in movies, also right before Everybody Hates Chris. He has been funny for my entire life and considered one of the greats, yet I didn’t think he had something like this in him. As it’s commonplace with contemporary comedians to take the mic and come to the same conclusions about the broken political systems we’ve already known before. Then this takes up time to have fresh jokes commenting about the world. But in Head of State, there’s merit to being some ahead of its time when Rock said all he needed to say about modern bitching about broken institutions. And the movie isn’t an airtight satire, either, yet I don’t think it needs to be to get by in 2025. Rock just knows what’s funny and where the satire lacks the genuine laughs makes up for this.
Head of State
2003
dir. Chris Rock
96 min.
Currently streaming on Kanopy, PlutoTV, and Paramount+
