Credit: Alamy
Sat 8 August 2026 3:30, UK
He might have been in a show where everybody hated him, but Chris Rock has done very well for himself in real life.
Following his breakout appearances on Saturday Night Live, the funnyman established himself as both a stand-up comic and a movie star, his films grossing well over $1billion worldwide, and they haven’t all been comedies, as proved by his portrayal of civil rights leader Roy Wilkins in Rustin.
Unfortunately, it hasn’t always been peachy for our friend, as he’s done his fair share of shitty Adam Sandler movies (see Sandy Wexler), and not only starred in the Saw spin-off Spiral but even suggested the idea in the first place. Needless to say, his dreams of becoming a horror movie star were not fulfilled, and considering he’s been in the entertainment business since the mid-1980s, Rock is bound to have a few parts of his career he isn’t particularly proud of.
When he was interviewed by Off Record in 2020, he spoke about some of these regrets, with one project in particular continuing to haunt him. “Beverly Hills Ninja,” he said, “But you know, I had just bought a house. I had my mortgage”.
Released in 1997, Beverly Hills Ninja is a comedy that centres around Haru, a Caucasian boy who is raised by a clan of ninjas to become an expert fighter. As an adult, however, he is clumsy, incompetent, and just a bit crap, so when he is called upon to solve a murder in Hollywood’s most glamorous neighbourhood, he seizes the chance to prove himself.
Haru is played by Rock’s old SNL buddy Chris Farley, although Dana Carvey was initially attached to the project, while Rock plays Joey Washington, a young bellhop who teams up with the protagonist in exchange for some ninja training. Other cast members include Nicollette Sheridan, Will Sasso, and Billy Connolly, who appears briefly as the owner of a Japanese antique shop.
Though it’s not without its fans, with Christian Bale once referring to it as his favourite film, Beverly Hills Ninja did not perform well with critics. Most reviewers landed on the consensus that the writers had one idea of an overweight man falling over, and stretched it out over 88 agonising minutes.
Further reading: Cutting Room Floor
The box office returns were alright, as it took around $38million from an $18m budget, but those involved would have expected a lot more. Today, it’s mostly remembered for being Farley’s final film appearance before his tragic death later that same year.
He might have some regrets over it these days, but it didn’t take Rock long to bounce back. In 1998, he appeared in two of the year’s highest-grossing films, in the form of Lethal Weapon 4 and Dr Doolittle. The year after that, he reignited his relationship with Kevin Smith, appearing as Rufus, the ‘13th apostle’, in Dogma.
Nobody makes it to the top of the Hollywood ladder without taking a few hits along the way, but at least Beverly Hills Ninja didn’t consign Chris Rock to the scrapheap forever.
