Chris Rock: Big Ass Jokes
Chris Rock: Big Ass Jokes
| 16 June 1994 (USA)
Chris Rock: Big Ass Jokes Trailers

Taped in Atlanta, Jokes offers Rock's take on everything from school busing (he's against it) to older women (in general, he prefers them to younger ones). His best routine, involving the inexpensive plain-wrap food his mother bought when he was a child, wouldn't be out of place on a classic Bill Cosby record.

Reviews
SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Big Ass Jokes" is a 25-minute comedy stand-up special from 1994, so this one has its 25th anniversary next year and it features African American comedian Chris Rock a little while before his breakthrough as an actor. Rock's comedy is always very loud and very much about stereotypes, but this approach here isn't him at his best yet. But as he was not even 30, it is easy to forgive him. The potential he had back then is clearly visible at times, but the material and sometimes also the delivery are not yet good enough in terms of both quality quantity, even for a special that stays comfortably under the 20-minute mark. Rock is maybe my favorite Oscars host from the last decade and I really like about him that he offers so much more than just the usual victim routine, some pretty funny stuff at times. If mediocre outings like the one we got here were necessary to turn him into who he is today, then I am glad this was made, even if I would only recommend it to the really very biggest stand-up routine fans out there. Everybody else won't be missing too much, especially the pretty cringeworthy ways in which the audience overreacted. Don't watch.
MisterWhiplash I liked this special. It showcased Chris Rock's comedy during his transition period (between SNL and his big comedy and movie career sprang). Here, we see much of his earlier material (not for kids, I'm not sure) and it is laugh out loud hilarious. Great fun. Especially is you're a Rock fan. A