Chris Rock: Selective Outrage (2023)

There's a new Chris Rock special out! And the big sell is the Oscar slap... it's kind of sad.

I appreciate him - don't get me wrong.

I loved how he handled the situation at the Oscars. With unexpected finesse. I'm glad he didn't instigate further, and I'm glad he at least seems to be going strong since; putting out specials; moving onward but... I'm just not feeling the jokes here!

I wonder if he is.

Is this the real him? I haven't seen a special with him before.

I wonder if my appreciation for Chris was somehow tainted by the incident too, since now that I'm seeing this I just feel like he's bitching about unnecessary things. Like he's bitter with the world. Like he doesn't have anything better to speak about. Like he really has some deep-rooted scars he could use some therapy for - and that this special definitely won't help him with that - no matter what he claims.

He takes the strong route, and that's cool... but he doesn't come across a victor here. To me. He feels weakened by the incident.

He was a fan of Will too apparently. He truly does seem hurt, still. He fucked up his final joke. It's sad to see.

An IMDB review summed up a large part of this pretty well too, they found the word I was missing.

Crass.

It is a fun special, somewhat - at least the audience seems to be enjoying it, but it is... crass. Unnecessarily so.

It takes about forty minutes for him to finally start shitting on himself at least a little. Humor at the expense of oneself is my favorite type. I relax a bit then. I start feeling like maybe he's alright after all - when he can make jokes on his own behalf he must feel OK about himself, but by then we're over halfway through...

He shouts all the time too initially, and it feels forced.

Maybe he's just attempting to do the 'outrage' justice. Maybe he feels like he has to. Maybe he doesn't still feel hurt so much as a pressure to cater to expectations since.

Eventually he calms down a bit and things get better but... he's just not all there. He repeats lines as well. He repeats jokes. He has a few good ones but I didn't actually laugh at all, not just not whole-heartedly, not at all...

It all entails more grimace than good fun, and it's a shame, cause I really was rooting for him. Will Smith left a bad imprint on everyone with that slap, but in the end I wonder if he won't make a comeback anyway.

He still has the charisma. He's still Will. This guy on the other hand... I don't know. And it's unfortunate, cause he definitely seems the kinder of the two. The one most rooted. The one in tune with the world.

Maybe he never was that good a comic, I haven't seen enough to know, but if he was this really isn't his best work.

Props on staying at it though! Keep being you. I'll catch the next one too; hope you're on your A game then. Maybe you got this out of your system with this, and can move on again hereafter.

Otherwise maybe best catch some movies instead of specials. The movies I've seen him in - where he's acting and stuff - were all good.

 rated 2.5/5: almost not bad