Here are the best Chris Rock movies, which range from his well-known raunchy comedy to family-friendly animated movies and occasional ventures into other genres.
Chris Rock has had a very successful career as a stand-up comedian and has spent time on the cast of “Saturday Night Live,” in addition to appearing in several critically praised feature movies.
While Rock’s humor is renowned for his stand-up comedy permeating most of his film work, he has also ventured into other genres, including horror and crime thrillers.
Rock always has the audience’s complete attention when he’s on-screen and elevates the movies he’s in, even when he plays a supporting part.
Rock is more than a talented actor; he also produces, writes, and directs several movies.
The daring choices in his performances show that Rock, whose career on the big screen started in the 1980s, is one of Hollywood’s most underrated actors.
Below is a list of the best chris rock movies.
1. Madagascar (2005)
- Director: Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath
- Cast: Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, and Tom McGrath
- IMDb rating: 6.9/10
The 2005 computer-animated movie Madagascar follows the everyday lives of the lion Alex, a hippopotamus named Gloria, a Somali giraffe named Melvin, and a plains zebra named Marty.
Marty has grown weary of the routine life as a tourist attraction at the Central Park Zoo.
Marty is all in when he discovers that the penguins, led by Skipper and his henchmen Kowalski, Rico, and Private, have plans to flee the zoo.
He encourages Marty, Gloria, and Alexa to accompany him, and they all flee along with Mason and Phil, two chimps.
Authorities tranquilize them with drugs and transport them to a Kenyan wildlife sanctuary after they are discovered at Grand Central Train Station.
The dangerously cunning penguins seize the ship and plot to sail to Antarctica but instead land on Madagascar.
At the box office, the humorous movie brought in a total of $556.559 million. This is undoubtedly one of the best Chris Rock movies.
2. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
- Director: Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath
- Cast: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, and Bernie Mac
- IMDb rating: 6.6/10
This is among the best Chris Rock movies. It seems strange to compare the original “Madagascar” to its 2008 sequel, “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa,” but the two movies are quite different, much like the first two “Godfather” movies.
The overall quality has improved tremendously, but the storyline is also more ambitious and delves deeper into the backgrounds of its main characters.
The animal group departs Madagascar in pursuit of New York City. However, instead crash-landed in continental Africa, forcing them to consider how they stack up against their more untamed counterparts and look for a means to continue their quest.
Chris Rock has the richest material to deal with in “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” as Marty goes through a kind of existential crisis.
When Marty encounters other zebras in the wild, he rapidly learns that he is not as exceptional as he had previously thought.
This prompts a deep examination of oneself. Rock gives Marty his greatest performance as the character to date, bringing a tremendous amount of depth and maturity compared to his more manic portrayal in the last movie.
3. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012)
- Director: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath, and Conrad Vernon
- Cast: Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, and Tom McGrath
- IMDb rating: 6.8/10
Without including the spinoffs, “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted,” released in 2012, completes the “Madagascar” trilogy.
It continues where the first franchise left off. The authorities chased the beloved characters as they tore across Europe after stopping in Monte Carlo.
The stakes for the wild pack of animals have never been greater now that they are the target of a hunt.
The fact that “Madagascar 3” is one of the best chris rock movies in the franchise while simultaneously giving Chris Rock’s Marty the least to do is ironic.
Marty, who played the lead in most of the movie’s promotion, was the series’ breakthrough character. In “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted,” he has a more reactive role.
However, “Madagascar 3” firmly establishes itself as the strongest movie in the animated trilogy, with a wanderlust spirit akin to “The Great Muppet Caper.”
4. 2 Days in New York (2012)
- Director: Julie Delpy
- Cast: Julie Delpy, Chris Rock, Albert Delpy, Alexia Landeau, Alexandre Nahon, Kate Burton, Dylan Baker, and Daniel Brühl
- IMDb rating: 6.0/10
In the 2012 movie “2 Days in New York,” French actress and director Julie Delpy offers a candid analysis of cross-cultural romance and the difficulties of dating as a single mother.
The story centers on Marion (Delpy) and Mingus (Chris Rock), a couple who move to New York City so that Marion may raise her kid from a previous relationship.
Even though Marion and Mingus’ affection is strong, it is tested when Marion’s family visits.
This large gathering also includes Mingus’ family, which causes a variety of misunderstandings and aggressions.
Delpy elevates “2 Days in New York” despite its unintentional racism and skewering insights, both on and off-screen, since the narrative is told from her anxious and neurotic point of view.
This modern screwball comedy doesn’t focus too much on its social critique.
The movie’s emotional core is provided by Delpy and Rock, who continue to have an intense connection.
5. Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)
- Director: Richard Donner
- Cast: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Chris Rock, Jet Li, Steve Kahan, and Kim Chan
- IMDb rating: 6.6/10
“Lethal Weapon 4”, the third franchise in the legendary buddy cop comedy from the 1980s, carried on the tradition of introducing fresh characters in each new movie.
This time, the ensemble includes Chris Rock, Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, and Renee Russo.
The franchise could have begun to seem boring by the fourth movie, but including Rock and Hong Kong action star Jet Li helped infuse a combination of new action and humor. Riggs (Gibson) and Murtaugh (Glover) enter a new universe in this sequel.
With his soon-to-be wife, Lorna Cole (Russo), carrying their first child, the careless maverick officer Riggs seeks a domestic life.
Meanwhile, Detective Butters (Rock), one of Murtaugh’s fellow detectives, is the father of his daughter, who is also expecting.
However, when they come under attack by the Chinese mafia headed by Wah Sing Ku (Li), things only become worse.
Despite not being one of the best chris rock movies in the franchise, “Lethal Weapon 4” was nonetheless a success, and Rock had a significant role in that.
His unconventional humor worked well with Gibson and Glover, and he seems like the ideal match for the franchise.
There has been no indication yet whether Rock will return to play Butters in the planned prequel “Lethal Weapon 5.”
6. New Jack City (1991)
- Director: Mario Van Peebles
- Cast: Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Allen Payne, Chris Rock, Mario Van Peebles, Michael Michele, Bill Nunn, and Russell Wong
- IMDb rating: 6.6/10
There were a ton of grim street crime thrillers in the early 1990s. One of the greatest was “New Jack City,” which Mario Van Peebles (“Posse”), an actor, directed for the first time on a large screen.
In the movie, Wesley Snipes also made his big-screen debut as legendary drug boss Nino Brown, a former street hustler.
The 1980s setting introduces Brown, a young guy who is sick of living on the streets and longs for the lavish lifestyles of the kingpins he has seen in movies.
With the aid of his enforcer Gee Money and his stick-up man Pookie, Brown, who has his group called the Cash Money Brothers, sets out to become one of them himself.
By eliminating their competitors, they gain influence swiftly, and Brown eventually takes control of the drug trade in the city.
However, the more popular Brown becomes, the more of a target he becomes.
Also, it doesn’t take long for an NYPD task team instructed by detectives Stone (Van Peebles) and Appleton (Ice-T) to use him as the subject of an undercover investigation.
“New Jack City” is one of the best Chris rock movies developed with time and is now regarded for its excellent cast and stylish directing.
7. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
- Director: Kevin Smith
- Cast: Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Ben Affleck, Jeff Anderson, Brian O’Halloran, Shannon Elizabeth, Eliza Dushku, and Ali Larter
- IMDb rating: 6.8/10
Rock portrays Chaka Luther King, a big-budget superhero movie director who draws inspiration from lifelong stoners Jay and Silent Bob, who cause the pair to sabotage the filming.
Chaka does not attempt to hide his disgust with the project and instead gives humorous commentary as the set disintegrates around him.
Rock only briefly appears in “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” after his lengthy sequence, but he leaves a lasting impact.
Rock’s character, openly antagonistic to all white people, has a far more striking comic approach than in “Dogma,” which was much more subtly amusing.
In the limited time he appears on screen, Rock stands out among a sea of cameos and supporting parts by injecting a self-aware look at how silly the situation is. This is one of the best chris rock movies.
8. CB4 (1993)
- Director: Tamra Davis
- Cast: Chris Rock, Allen Payne, Deezer D, Chris Elliott, Phil Hartman, Charlie Murphy, Khandi Alexander, and Art Evans
- IMDb rating: 6.2/10
Chris Rock wrote and starred in “CB4”, an outrageous comedy parody, in 1993, right after his four-year run on “Saturday Night Live.”
The movie, a parody of the rap scene, mocked musicians like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Ice-T during the height of their early 1990s fame.
Several members of the infamous rap group N.W.A, notably Eazy-E, even made cameo appearances in the movie, which specifically makes fun of them.
Albert Brown (Rock), a fictitious amateur rapper who aspires to found his gangster rap group, is the movie’s focus.
Having booked a performance by the neighborhood criminal leader Gusto at a nightclub, Destiny steps in with a police raid.
When Gusto is imprisoned, Brown adopts his identity and, with the help of his connections and gangster persona, rises to become the well-known rapper M.C. Gusto.
However, not everything is going as planned since conflict develops inside his new rap group CB4.
The real Gusto is now incarcerated and has vowed retaliation. “CB4” was a brilliantly timed rap comedy that felt like a time capsule of both early ’90s humor and the changing condition of music at the time, with sufficient of its plot to support a stream of jokes.
Other comedians, like Chris Elliott, Phil Hartman, and Khandi Alexander, contribute to the humor.
9. Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)
- Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
- Cast: Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols, Dan Petronijevic, Richard Zeppieri, Patrick McManus, and Ali Johnson
- IMDb rating: 5.2/10
After 2017’s “Jigsaw,” the well-known “Saw” horror franchise was mostly dead, but Chris Rock himself gave it fresh life with the 2021 installment, “Spiral: From the Book of Saw.”
At a mutual friend’s wedding, Rock allegedly proposed the franchise’s rebirth to a studio boss connected to the franchise.
Rock departs from his normal comic material with this popular horror movie.
Rock portrays Zeke Banks, a police investigator looking into a copycat killer who imitates the intricate killings perpetrated by the renowned Jigsaw, only to discover that the killer has his family in mind.
Viewers may be surprised by Rock’s quick switch from humor to relentlessly dismal terror, but it works here.
Shocked by some aspects of the movie’s production, Rock does a fantastic job of portraying Zeke’s growing dread and repulsion at what he is confronted with.
Rock’s unconventional casting gives “Spiral,” a lesser “Saw” movie, the surprise edge it needs to rise beyond expectations. This is undoubtedly one of the best Chris Rock movies.
10. Dogma (1999)
- Director: Kevin Smith
- Cast: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Bud Cort, Barret Hackney, Jared Pfennigwerth, Kitao Sakurai, and George Carlin
- IMDb rating: 7.3/10
With Matt Damon and Ben Affleck leading the cast, Kevin Smith’s fourth movie featured a pair of future worldwide megastars when they were still relatively unknown.
The two are tossed out of heaven and abandoned in Wisconsin as a couple of exiled angels in the drama.
However, they quickly devise a scheme to enter God’s realm again by performing a religious ritual in the hellhole that is Red Bank, New Jersey. The only issue is that if they are successful, existence will cease.
One of the few celestial deities who descend to Earth to attempt to stop them is Rufus, played by Chris Rock.
Along with playing strange creatures, Alanis Morissette from the ’90s portrays God. Other appear actors include Jason Lee, Salma Hayek, and Alan Rickman.
Smith’s theological parody “Dogma,” which he released after “Clerks” and “Mallrats,” strikes all the right notes by being both purposefully contentious and deliberately contemporary.
It still ranks among the best Chris rock movies because it blends his typical humor with just enough of a thrilling adventure to discuss the problems.
11. Doctor Dolittle (1998)
- Director: Betty Thomas
- Cast: Eddie Murphy, Peter Boyle, Ossie Davis, Oliver Platt, Richard Schiff, Kristen Wilson, Jeffrey Tambor, and Chris Rock.
- IMDb rating: 5.4/10
Caesar Millan may be known as “The Dog Whisperer,” but Doctor Dolittle is much superior.
The fantasy comedy picture Doctor Dolittle, which was released in 1998, performed far better at the box office than its predecessor, the 1967 musical The Story of Doctor Dolittle.
Before becoming a movie franchise, Hugh Lofting’s book, which served as the basis for the movie, already existed.
It centers on John Dolittle (Eddie Murphy), who discovered at age five that he had a unique capacity to communicate with animals, beginning with his dog.
However, when his father asks a priest to execute an exorcism on John to drive the “devil” from him, the priest gets bitten by John’s dog and thrown away, which makes John cease communicating with animals.
After several years, he married Kristen Wilson and had two kids with her, Charisse (Raven Symone) and Maya Dolittle (Kayla Pratt).
Rodney, a guinea pig they own, is played by Chris Rock. The movie brought in a staggering $294.156 million worldwide. This is undoubtedly one of the best Chris Rock movies.
12. Dolemite is My Name (2019)
- Director: Craig Brewer
- Cast: Eddie Murphy, Keegan-Michael Key, Mike Epps, Craig Robinson, Tituss Burgess, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Snoop Dogg
- IMDb rating: 7.2/10
Chris Rock may build a career by playing fleeting but memorable supporting characters who only stay long enough to spark the action.
The 2019 movie “Dolemite Is My Name,” which explores the lives and times of actor and stand-up comic Rudy Ray Moore, is the most precise illustration of this. Dolemite is my name and is one of the best Chris Rock movies.
Rock plays the crucial part of Bobby Vale, an Indiana DJ who offers to show and promote the movie when he cannot find a distributor.
Rock is perfectly home in the period piece, playing up the disc jockey character to the fullest.
The movie is set in the 1970s. Meeting Moore at his most hopeless, Vale gives the protagonist fresh hope and fully revitalizes the movie.
Rock makes the best of his little screen time even though “Dolemite Is My Name” is Eddie Murphy’s movie.
13. Nurse Betty (2000)
- Director: Neil LaBute
- Cast: Renée Zellweger, Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock, Greg Kinnear, Aaron Eckhart, Tia Texada, Crispin Glover, and Pruitt Taylor Vince
- IMDb rating: 6.3/10
Chris Rock’s dark, twisted comedy “Nurse Betty” was a little different for him and revealed a more cunning side to the comedic performer.
The witty comedy movie also stars Renee Zellweger from “The Bridget Jones Diary” and Morgan Freeman from “The Shawshank Redemption” in addition to Rock.
Aaron Eckhart portrays Del Sizemore as a secret drug dealer, while Zellweger portrays Betty Sizemore as a housewife and waitress.
However, Betty observes a pair of hitmen arrive to murder Del and is so shocked by what she sees that she loses all sense of reality.
Betty assumes the identity of a character from her favorite soap opera when she is in a fugue state and begins a new life in Los Angeles under the disguise of a nurse who has been dumped.
Charlie and Wesley pursue Betty after learning that she unintentionally took their medications with her.
Although “Nurse Betty” didn’t do very well at the box office, critics praised the movie for its offbeat humor and echoes of Quentin Tarantino.
It turned out to be one of the best Chris Rock movies since it is original and inventive and avoided modern stereotypes.
14. Bee Movie (2007)
- Director: Simon J. Smith and Steve Hickner
- Cast: Jerry Seinfeld, Renée Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, Patrick Warburton, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Kathy Bates, and Barry Levinson
- IMDb rating: 6.1/10
This is perhaps the funniest and most A-list actor-filled cartoon movie in recent memory.
The comedic movie, released in 2007, centers on Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld), a honey bee with the unusual capacity to communicate with people.
He and his buddy Adam Flayman (Matthew Broderick) want to start working in the Honex Industries honey-making workforce when they graduate.
Barry often conflicts with a gang of Pollen Jocks and his supervisors because of his inventive and ambitious nature.
Barry, a pollen collector, goes on his first pollen-harvesting job in New York when he gets lost in the pouring rain and finds up on the balcony of a florist, Vanessa Bloom.
As Barry and Vanessa become closer, her boyfriend Ken (Patrick Warburton) becomes enraged.
He resolves to file a lawsuit against humanity to stop the bees’ abuse after learning about the unfavorable circumstances they are kept in a while making honey.
The movie grossed $287.594 million at the box office and stars Ray Liotta and Sting in addition to Chris Rock as Mooseblood the Mosquito. This is undoubtedly one of the best Chris Rock movies.
