Not quite as solid as a Rock

Payback, as they used to say in Vietnam, is a four-syllable word.

Actually, they didn’t say that. What they did was use the actual four-syllable word. But by any other name, payback would still be as sweet. Which is something that Chris Rock knows. It’s something that every comic with a cultural chip on his or her shoulder knows well.

Which is, no doubt, is why “Head of State” makes middle-age white people look so stupid. Making them dance as if they were auditioning to be Fly Girls, making them talk as if they were in Ice Cube’s posse, making them panic at a phrase that a kindergartener of any ethnic background would giggle at and quickly dismiss.

At his best, Rock is an acerbic, perceptive commentator about race, politics and pretty much everything else that made a reputation for Dennis Miller. And, of course, he has a right to make fun of anyone he wants. It’s just this: “Head of State” isn’t Rock at his best. It may, though, be him at his worst.

By the way, there are four syllables in Dennis Miller, too. That has to be significant of something