Chris Rock’s ‘Misty Green’ Premieres, Rosalind Eleazar Stuns — 71 on Metacritic [TIFF]

We already know the critical consensus on the Venice and Telluride movies, the most acclaimed of the bunch being "NAZA" (96 on Metacritic), "Possible Love" (93), "Tender Loving Care" (86), "The Debut" (79), "Wild Horse Nine" (79), "Ink" (79), and "A Long Winter" (78).

How about Toronto? The world premieres here — as is the case every year — tend to have been rejected by Telluride, Venice, or both. Which isn't to say those festivals don't make mistakes; they do, every year. The big TIFF 2026 exclusives include "Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother" (85), "Being Heumann" (68), "I Play Rocky" (63), and this one.

Chris Rock's "Misty Green" finally dropped in Toronto a few days ago, and it's sitting at 71 on Metacritic. I wouldn't call this film great — it stops short of that because of how neatly it resolves itself — but I'll give Rock his due here: this is much better than his previous directorial effort, "Top Five." A real swing, telling the story of a has-been actress in her 30s trying to mount a second act that may never arrive. And the texture, the atmosphere Rock creates, is damn good.

The film has Rosalind Eleazar's Misty about to get evicted from a posh beachside L.A. apartment. She has seven days to get her shit together — the problem is that she has no money, is blacklisted from many Hollywood circles, and too hooked on drugs. Eleazar is helped by a wonderful ensemble: Anna Kendrick as her best friend, who has a Black fetish and seems unhappily married to a white guy; Adam Driver as a sleazy straight-to-streaming producer who makes much of his money pimping out failed actresses, and who has his eye on Misty; Daniel Kaluuya as her unpredictable brother, fresh out of the psych ward; and Topher Grace as the frustrated agent.

That said, Eleazar is our lead, and she towers above everyone else as this ferocious, wounded actress. What makes the performance work is how unpredictable she lets Misty be — big declarations, tantrums over things that happen to be completely true, and total ambiguity about her moral core. You believe, and feel for her plight, no matter the contradictions.

Despite a surprising New York Film Festival slot, I don't think this gets into Best Picture, but it absolutely doesn't close the door on an acting nomination for Eleazar. This film is very busy, sending Misty from one insane situation to the next, including cringe auditions where her temperament comes out and we learn more about why she's been blacklisted. Rock has clearly taken note of Safdies cinema.

Honestly, and I say this as someone who was impressed by many of Rock's directorial touches here, all he really has to do is put the camera on his lead and let her cook. Eleazar is that good.

Rock's inner optimist gets the best of him — the ending arrives fast, resolves too neatly, and forces Misty into a decision that flattens everything interesting the film spent two hours building. You could argue that's a wink at Hollywood endings. It doesn't really play that way.

Still, as messy as this film turns out to be, Rock is such an astute observer of human interaction that there's a real naturalism to the conversations and situations, and you can't help but be won over ny what he’s made here. That said, his casting of Eleazar might be the film’s legacy— unlike the character she plays, Eleazar is about to be cast in many movies.