Eddie Murphy's Biggest Movie Mistakes

Originally Published in November 2011 to accompany the release of the long forgotten comedy, Tower Heist. 

Eddie Murphy returns to theaters on Friday, November 4, in the comedy "Tower Heist," co-starring Ben Stiller and directed by "Rush Hour" director Brett Ratner. "Tower Heist" looks a like a potential hit given the heavy promotion the film is getting from Universal Pictures. If "Tower Heist" does become a hit it will be remembered as a good decision by an actor who has a history of making very bad decisions. Here's a look back at some of Eddie Murphy's biggest career blunders.

"Imagine That"

In "Imagine That" Murphy delivers a dull family movie about a father bonding with his daughter after he discovers that her imaginary friends can help him predict the stock market. "Imagine That" failed with critics and at the box office, earning a 38 percent positive rating at Rottentomatoes.com and a meager $16 million at the domestic box office.

"Meet Dave"

How "Meet Dave" made it past the planning stages is a major question mark. The story finds Murphy in the dual role of a humanoid robot and the leader of the robot's miniature alien crew. Among critics, "Meet Dave" was blasted even worse than "Imagine That," with USA Today critic Claudia Puig calling the story "dull, witless and hackneyed." Among moviegoers, the project was among the biggest bombs of Murphy's career, earning a disastrous $11 million at the domestic box office. Ouch!

"Beverly Hills Cop III"

The original "Beverly Hills Cop" grossed over $230 million in the United States. "Beverly Hills Cop II" was slightly less successful than the original but still grossed over $150 million domestic. Seven years after "Beverly Hills Cop II," Murphy went back to the character of Axel Foley in hope of reviving his fading star-power following the diminishing returns for "Another 48 Hours," "Boomerang," and "The Distinguished Gentleman." The result was both a box office and critical failure. "Beverly Hills Cop III" grossed barely a quarter of what the original brought in at the box office 10 years earlier. As for critics, the same people who hailed Murphy's arrival in "Beverly Hills Cop" were mostly embarrassed for the desperate and unfunny Murphy in "Beverly Hills Cop III."

"The Adventures of Pluto Nash"

"The Adventures of Pluto Nash" is a legendary blunder. This sci-fi comedy starring Murphy as a nightclub owner on the moon, who travels the galaxy to investigate who burned his club down, cost more than $100 million dollars to make and took in an apocalyptic $4 million at the domestic box office. Not surprisingly, critics lambasted "The Adventures of Pluto Nash" -- for being a bad movie and for wasting the equivalent of the annual budget of your average small, island nation.

"Norbit"

Here we have a unique point in Eddie Murphy's career. Yes, "Norbit," the story of a nerdy kid who finds himself dragged into a marriage with a horrible overweight woman, also played by Murphy, was a hit, earning nearly $100 million at the box office. However, "Norbit" arrived in theaters in February 2007 with ads featuring Murphy in a fat-suit pretending to be his own wife, just as Murphy was campaigning for his very first Oscar for his role in "Dreamgirls." It is believed, though it cannot be proved, that "Norbit" cost Murphy an Academy Award, thus earning the film a place on the list of Eddie's biggest blunders.

Movie Review: You People

You People (2023) 

Directed by Kenya Barris 

Written by Jonah Hill, Kenya Barris

Starring Jonah Hill, Eddie Murphy, Julia Louis Dreyfuss, Lauren London, Nia Long, David Duchovny 

Release Date January 27th, 2023 

Published January 28th, 2023 

You People is an insufferable bore featuring caricatures of white and black people who talk as if they were programmed by Boomer Facebook memes. Kenya Barris and Jonah Hill are supposed to be better than that but by the evidence of You People, they've taken the lowest hanging fruit of awkward racial humor and blended it all together and reheated it over and over and over again and then called it a movie. The characters may have a point to make about the ways white and black people fail to communicate effectively with each other but it's hard to find that point in the midst of noisy, insufferable characters intended only to inflict themselves on each other rather than talk like human beings.  

You People stars Jonah Hill as Ezra Cohen and Lauren London as Amira Mohammad. These two 30-something kids meet-cute when Ezra mistakes Amira for his Uber Driver. She happens to be lost on her way to a new job and he's able to navigate her there. Along the way, he gets her phone number and the two start a sweet romance. He works in finance but dreams of being a podcaster and she's costume designer working on various different movie and television projects. They have terrific chemistry. Only one thing stands in there way, a terrible script, no wait, I mean their parents. 

Julia Louis Dreyfuss and David Duchovny are Shelly and Arnold Cohen and Eddie Murphy and Nia Long are Akbar and Fatima Mohammad. If you haven't guessed, the Cohen's are Jewish and the Mohammad's are Muslim, how will they ever get along? Sarcasm. Sarcasm. Sarcasm. Surprise, they don't get along and when Ezra decides to ask Amira to marry him things only get worse as Shelly stumbles into ruining their relationship over her woke enthusiasm, and Akbar actively works to undermine the relationship by catching Ezra doing something wrong, whatever that might be. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media linked here 

Movie Review Imagine That

Imagine That (2009) 

Directed by Karey Kirkpatrick

Written by Ed Solomon, Chris Matheson 

Starring Eddie Murphy, Yara Shahidi, Thomas Haden Church, Ronny Cox, Martin Sheen

Release Date August 14th, 2009 

Published August 15th, 2009 

The problem with Eddie Murphy as the star of family movies is that he never seems sincere. Some of it is our fault as an audience. We pigeonholed Eddie as a foul mouthed comedy superstar. The move to becoming the star of family comedies came after we were tired of his act. There were also some unfortunate offscreen issues that dimmed Eddie's star. With few offers on the table Eddie jumped the family movie bandwagon and has never looked back. It is in that rather desperate move into the family genre where his insincerity lies and the latest evidence is called Imagine That.

Evan Danielson (Murphy) is a top stock speculator. He is in line to take over the Denver branch of a major investment firm and he owes it all to a focus on work at all costs. Evan lost his family due to his single minded focus on work and now only sees his daughter Olivia (Yara Shahidi) sparingly. There is however, an impediment to Evan's ascension to the top at work. His name is Whitefeather (Thomas Haden Church, a long way from his Sideways Oscar nomination), a fellow speculator who dazzles clients with his alleged Indian heritage. He undermines Evan at every turn with his eyes on the big promotion.

Things get even more difficult for Evan when his ex-wife (Nicole Ari Parker) drops their daughter on him for a week. He had agreed to take Olivia before the promotion came up, now she is holding him to it. For her part, Olivia is a troubled, quiet child with few friends and a possibly unhealthy attachment to her security blanket.

Instead of interacting with other kids at school Olivia places her blanket over her head and has long conversations with several imaginary friends. The 'friends' are princesses who not only talk to Olivia but have advice for her dad. They can predict stocks and soon they are giving Evan stunningly accurate advice.

Daddy and daughter bond over playing with the princesses, only she can see them, but convention tells us as moviegoers that the bond cannot last and eventually the need for stock advice from the princesses will come between them. Worse yet, like clockwork, the finale of Imagine That comes down to a chase to the school where...

Oh, do I even have to tell you.

You've seen Imagine That in different forms a thousand different times. Murphy and Director Karey Kirkpatrick adhere to absolutely every family movie cliche creating a rote, predictable and desperately unfunny slog through the typical and expected.

Well, there is one element of Imagine That I did not predict: The sad, despicable and ludicrous performance of the once promising Thomas Haden Church. Had he played this role before earning an Oscar nomination for Sideways and going on to star in Spiderman 3, it would make sense. Playing second fiddle to Eddie Murphy in a third rate family movie cannot be where Thomas Haden Church imagined his career.

Worse yet is the actual performance in which Church plays a white guy pretending to be a full blooded American Indian and using that heritage to become a successful stock analyst. Why Church or anyone involved in Imagine That thought this character was a good idea is, pardon the pun, unimaginable.

The stupidity of Church's character only makes worse the experience of the overall dreadful enterprise that is Imagine That.

Movie Review Shrek the 3rd

Shrek the 3rd (2007) 

Directed by Chris Miller

Written by Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman, Aron Warner

Starring Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Justin Timberlake, Eric Idle

Release Date May 18th, 2007

Published May 17th, 2007 

Shrek may have began its film life as a veiled slap at Disney’s fairy tale past, courtesy of Dreamworks honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg, but the film's success and the subsequent success of its sequel have shown that the big green ogre has a life and identity of its own. Sure, the shots at Disney\ 's classic fairy tales remain as Shrek offers its third installment, but the success of Shrek the 3rd comes entirely from these wonderfully familiar and lovable characters.

Shrek the 3rd finds our heroic green friend in line for the throne of Far Far Away. The king (John Cleese), turned into a frog in Shrek 2, is near death and proclaims Shrek as the next king. That is, unless Shrek can find another more worthy heir. The only thing Shrek fears more than becoming king is becoming a father. Unfortunately, he has no control over that one, Fiona (Cameron Diaz) is pregnant.

Facing fatherhood and royalty, Shrek takes up the task of locating the next in line for the throne, if he is going to be a dad, at least he can do it from his slime covered hovel in the swamp. For that to happen he has to find Fiona\'s cousin Arthur (Justin Timberlake), Artie to the kids who pick on him. Artie is the resident punching bag at his private school when Shrek shows up to tell him he could be king.

Meanwhile, with Shrek away from the kingdom, the evil Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) has raised an army of fairy tale villains to assault the kingdom and proclaim him the new king and set a trap for Shrek, Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas).

The first Shrek without the guiding hand of writer-director Andrew Adamson, moved on to the Chronicles of Narnia series, Shrek the 3rd suffers from typical sequel atrophy. This is not necessarily the fault of new directors Chris Miller and Raman Hui, rather it\'s more likely the problem of some 7 different writers who took a swipe at this screenplay.

The problems with Shrek The 3rd aren\'t deathly. The first 20 minutes or so are an awkward hodgepodge of humor that is a little adult for child audiences. It\'s not so inappropriate that parents should be wary, but it could lead to some awkward questions. After that however, the film settles in and allows these familiar characters and what we love about them to lead the way and deliver the laughs.

Credit Directors Miller and Hui and their platoon of writers for dialing back on the product placement jokes that made Shrek 2 look like a non-stop billboard. Shrek the 3rd dispenses with the product placement jokes, with storefronts like \"Versarchery\", in the first few minutes. Shrek the 3rd is still heavy on pop culture but is far less precious about it than Shrek 2.

Shrek The 3rd also has a better brain than Shrek 2. The relationship between Shrek and Artie has more depth than you expect and the characters are allowed to explore their issues in ways that deepen the characters and their bond without bogging down the plot. The pace clips along quick enough to put audiences back on the streets in under 90 minutes.

Shrek 2 delivered louder and more consistent laughs than Shrek the 3rd.  The second sequel could use an infusion of bigger laughs and more laughs that rise from the plot as opposed to the stand up comedy one liners that provide many of the giggles in Shrek the 3rd.

Neither Shrek sequel has risen to the magical level of the first film which remains fresh and funny in a brilliantly subversive fashion. Each of the sequels has been a step down in quality, a function of simple sequel fatigue. Thankfully, the first film set such a high standard that a step down in quality here and there still places the Shrek sequels above most other animated films.

Shrek the 3rd is not as great as the original or as funny as the second film but your kids will still love it and you definitely will not be bored by Shrek the 3rd.

Movie Review Norbit

Norbit (2007) 

Directed by Brian Robbins

Written by Eddie Murphy, Charlie Murphy

Starring Eddie Murphy, Thandie Newton, Cuba Gooding Jr., Eddie Griffin, Marlon Wayans, Charlie Murphy 

Release Date February 9th, 2007 

Published February 9th, 2007 

The last thing Eddie Murphy needs with Oscar ballots still uncounted is a movie like Norbit. Unfortunately, Norbit is out there and TV commercials are exposing Eddie at his most commercially bankrupt. Will Norbit cast Eddie an Oscar? It's possible. Norbit is an example of Murphy at his most bankrupt, displaying his declining comic talent for the world to see, at a time when Hollywood is close to honoring him for the best dramatic work of his career.

Oscar voters aren't likely to see Norbit, which might lessen the impact, but just the sight of his giant fat suited character on TV could be enough for a few voters to turn their attention to actors with a tad more talent and integrity. 

Norbit (Eddie Murphy) was abandoned as a baby, thrown from a moving car at the doorstep of an orphanage/Chinese restaurant. There, Mr. Wong (Also Eddie Murphy) took young Norbit in and raised him as his own. Growing up in the orphanage, Norbit fell for a fellow orphan named Kate until she was adopted. With Kate gone, Norbit fell under the spell of Rasputia (Eddie, again) a giantess who protected him from bullies and years later forced him to marry her.

Trapped in an awful marriage to an awful woman, Norbit wants a way out. This is when Kate (Thandie Newton) returns and Norbit see's a different path for his life. Unfortunately, Kate has brought her fiance Deion (Cuba Gooding Jr.) with her. Can Norbit escape Rasputia and win Kate away from the scheming, jerky, Deion? These are the strands that stand in as a plot for Norbit.

Directed by Bryan Robbins, the auteur behind The Shaggy Dog and Ready To Rumble, Norbit is a terribly unfunny series of sitcomic sketches whose sole purpose is placing their star in a different funny outfit. The makeup on Eddie Murphy, done as it was in The Nutty Professor by effects master Rick Baker, is damn impressive but not nearly impressive enough to warrant a movie that is basically dedicated to the talent of the makeup department.

Norbit is pretty bad but not entirely laugh free. Comics Eddie Griffin and Katt Williams have small roles as pimps, Pope Sweet Jesus and Lord Have Mercy. The roles are awful stereotypes but Griffin and Williams are too talented not to deliver a couple of good laughs. In a scene near the end of Norbit, the two riff on love and steal the show for a few minutes.

Also kinda funny is Murphy's awful chinese caricature Mr. Wong. Murphy gives Mr. Wong all of the best and most shocking lines in the film and the racist banter and love of whaling are just wild enough to earn what few laughs are offered in Norbit.

As for Rasputia, Murphy's giant drag cliche, the character is a force of nature but there isn't anything there beyond the fat jokes. Unlike Tyler Perry's Madea who combines the bizarre look of a man in drag with a character that has its own level of odd integrity, Rasputia is just a walking stereotypical punchline. That Murphy infuses Rasputia with unending self confidence keeps the jokes from becoming meanspirited but the real problem is not political correctness or hurt feelings but rather that none of the jokes are funny.

Toss Norbit on the pile next to Daddy Day Care, Metro and Holy Man, yet another step in the decline of the comic talent of Eddie Murphy. Eddie's concert video Delirious hit DVD recently and is a hilarious example of how talented and gut bustingly funny Eddie Murphy once was. Why his skills have declined so badly is a mystery.

Like Adam Sandler impressing so many critics in Punch Drunk Love, Eddie Murphy's turn in Dreamgirls now looks like a flash in the pan, a moment of brilliance in a sea of declining talent. What a shame.

Movie Review Shrek 2

Shrek 2 (2004) 

Directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon

Written by Andrew Adamson, Joe Stillman, David N. Weiss

Starring Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Julie Andrews, Antonio Banderas, Rupert Everett

Release Date May 19th, 2004 

Published May 18th, 2004 

In 2000, Shrek came out of nowhere and became a box office phenomena. While only spending one weekend at the top of the box office, the film’s buzz sustained it at the box office to the tune of $267 million domestically.

More important than the film’s box office was its quality. One of the rare and wonderful examples of what is possible when animation technology meets talented voice actors, producers and writers. An animated film with as much appeal to adults as to children. The sequel cannot be asked to meet that same lofty standard. That it doesn't spoil our memory of the first film is good enough.

As we rejoin our friends shortly after their wedding, Shrek (Mike Myers) and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) are on their honeymoon. The opening of the film is a terrific sendup of those romantic comedy montages set to some silly pop song with Shrek and Fiona cavorting in a meadow, running toward each other both being chased by pitch fork toting mobs.

Once back in the swamp, they are reunited with Donkey (Eddie Murphy). They are informed that they have been invited to the kingdom of Far Far Away where Fiona's parents King Harold (John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews) wish to throw them a royal ball to celebrate their marriage. Shrek is convinced it's a bad idea but Fiona insists they go, even allowing Donkey to join them for the long journey that is best described "Are we there yet?”

No surprise to Shrek, when they arrive and are not greeted with open arms by the King and Queen. There is more to this story than the King's objecting to his daughter marrying an Ogre. It seems the King had cut a deal with the Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) that promised Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) would save Fiona from her castle and marry her, thus becoming heir to the throne. The King owes Fairy Godmother for some yet to be revealed reason and so he must get rid of Shrek and allow Charming to take his place.

For this, the King buys the services of a legendary Ogre killer named Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) whose efforts are less than successful. From there, Shrek and Fiona are separated and various miscommunications and mistaken identities serve to keep them apart. Shrek, Donkey and their new friend Puss in Boots must find a way to get Fiona back.

It's not a complicated story, it's a simple setup for the scatological humor that drips from every scene. Each computer-generated frame of Shrek 2 has some kind of satirical jab, even more than the original film. It almost reeks of desperation as if the producers and writers of Shrek 2 felt something was missing from the first film and were going to cover it up with excess jokes.

There is something missing from the sequel though I can't quite explain what it is. Part of the problem is that Shrek's look and animation isn't as special as it was back in 2000. Since then we have seen Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo and Ice Age and even live action films like Van Helsing and Spider-man that have made us comfortable with computer animation. It's not that special anymore, it's still impressive but not as mind blowing as the original.

Shrek 2 is not as funny as the first film but it is still funnier than most. Credit the terrific voice cast who project every line of dialogue all the way to the back wall of the theater. Especially good is Antonio Banderas who really tears into the role of Puss In Boots with tremendous comic fervor. Banderas sends up his Mask Of Zorro titular role and the script hints at something that other Zorro movies have used as subtext, something that the kids in the audience won't get but parents will likely pick up.

The other new voices are also well cast. John Cleese picks up the pompous, overblown King role where his good friend John Lithgow left it in the original. Jennifer Saunders makes a terrific villain and even knocks out a rousing showstopper tune near the end. Sadly, Julie Andrews is underused with little to do in the underwritten role of the Queen.

The film’s best assets are still Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy. These terrific comics know how to deliver a punchline and the way the animators incorporate the actors' physical traits into the animated characters adds to the feeling that they are really inhabiting these characters. Listen closely however and you might hear Myers dropping out of his Scottish accent, but that is a minor quibble.

To ask Shrek 2 to recreate the magic of the first film is asking way too much. The best it could do was not taint our memory and that it does it justice with funny references to everything from Spider-man to The Wizard Of Oz to Raiders of The Lost Ark. That it does not fall to sequels and exist merely to capitalize off the original’s success is a testament to the creative team behind it. They put forth an effort to tell a story rather than slapping together a money machine meant to print money off our fondness for the first film.

Movie Review The Haunted Mansion

The Haunted Mansion (2003) 

Directed by Rob Minkoff 

Written by David Berenbaum 

Starring Eddie Murphy, Terence Stamp, Wallace Shawn, Jennifer Tilly 

Release Date November 26th, 2003 

Published November 25th, 2003 

It may be time to finally put our memories of Eddie Murphy 'comic genius' away for good. It seems we will never see Murphy's talent ever again. With every mediocre family movie in which he picks up an eight figure paycheck, the Eddie Murphy of our memory dies a little. Eddie can't go and make an edgy, raunchy, action comedy anymore because it might cost him his next family movie paycheck. With his latest mediocre family movie, The Haunted Mansion, Murphy pounds yet another nail into the coffin of his former comic persona.

In The Haunted Mansion, which is based on the Disney theme park ride, Murphy is real estate maven Jim Evers of Evers and Evers Real Estate. The family's cringe-inducing catchphrase is “Evers and Evers making your family happy for Evers and Evers.” Yikes. In an all too familiar plot, Jim works way too much, and his wife Sara (Marsha Tomason) is upset that he doesn't spend enough time with the kids, daughter Megan (Aree Davis) and son Michael (Marc John Jeffries).

To that end, Jim proposes a family trip to the lake with no work at all for the entire weekend. No work until a new client comes calling with a huge property to sell. It's a gothic 1800s mansion called Gracie Manor and if the Evers want the listing they have to come immediately. In what is supposed to be a quick detour from their trip, the family stops at Gracie Manor to meet the owner and wind up spending the night with ghosts, zombies, and various other horror movie staples.

The ghosts in the Haunted Mansion are Master Gracie (Nathaniel Parker) and his staff, headed up by Ramsley (Terrence Stamp) the butler and his assistants played by Wallace Shawn and Dina Spybey. Jennifer Tilly also shows up as a gypsy in magic ball. The ghosts of Gracie Manor can only escape if their curse is lifted and the vagaries of the curse involve a woman who looks exactly like Sara Evers. When Sara is captured by the ghosts, it's up to Jim to save her and find some other way to lift the curse.

Eddie Murphy, as he does even in his worst films, shows flashes of the kind of comedy we know he's capable of. Murphy remains charismatic and occasionally that comic spark comes back. But sadly, for the most part, Eddie Murphy in The Haunter Mansion is in pick up a check mode. Murphy's Jim Evers is a bumbling scaredy cat channeling Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein, until it's time for him to save the day. That might not sound bad but Murphy's strength is not being Abbott or Costello and his idea of broad physical comedy is forced and unpleasant. 

Poor Terrence Stamp looks, in every scene, as if he can barely keep from rolling his eyes. Stamp's boredom with this lame material is evident in his every gesture, facial expression and line of dialogue. Like Murphy, he's not here to make The Haunted Mansion good, he's here to get his paycheck and go do something else. This is a feeling that permeates the entirety of The Haunted Mansion, a complete disinterest in actually making a good movie. 

Director Rob Minkoff is one of those studio hacks that Disney keeps on the payroll just for movies like this: Mediocre, inoffensive family comedies that need merely to transfer script to screen. Minkoff shows little directorial flair in The Haunted Mansion. It's likely he could spend his entire career turning out mediocre hits like this one or another Stuart Little movie. The Haunted Mansion is not an offensively bad movie. Merely a mediocre movie. Of course I've often wondered just which is worse, mediocre or just plain bad.

Movie Review: Daddy Day Care

Daddy Day Care (2003)

Directed by Steve Carr 

Written by Geoff Rodkey 

Starring Eddie Murphy, Jeff Garlin, Steve Zahn, Regina King, Anjelica Huston 

Release Date May 9th, 2003 

Published May 10th, 2003 

How many times can one actor be written off? If you’re Eddie Murphy, apparently as many times as you can make a movie. Every time Eddie comes out with a film it's greeted by cynics in my profession as his last chance to be a big star. And each time, Eddie comes back. Eddie has found the back door to maintaining a waning career. He has sold his cool action-comedy persona and adopted a kid-friendly persona that has proven to a career salvation. His latest by-the-numbers kid friendly flick is Daddy Day Care, a rote family comedy, factory produced by the Hollywood machine.

In Daddy Day Care, Murphy is Charlie, an ad executive who loses his job after a product he was working on tanks badly with test audiences (how amazingly ironic). Left at home waiting for responses to his resume, Charlie gets to spend some much needed private time with his son Ben (Khamani Griffin). One day Charlie takes Ben to the park and has a conversation with a mom desperate for a new day care center. With this inspiration and the help of a friend who also lost his job, Phil (Jeff Garlin, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Charlie opens a day care center in his home.

Regina King plays Charlie's wife though it's difficult to tell as she disappears as quickly as she's introduced. Steve Zahn rounds out the cast as a doofy assistant with a fetish for Star Trek and a knack for dealing with kids. Speaking of the kids, none of the little actors makes much of an impression beyond being cute.

The setup is so simple it must have taken all of an hour to think of and write down. Well known personality is paired with a group of cute kids. We haven't seen this teaming but, oh, a dozen or so times, and Daddy Day Care doesn't have much of anything new to add to this familiar story. Even the great Anjelica Huston can't do anything to make this film interesting with her role as the film’s villainous pre-school owner Ms. Harridan. Get it, harridan, oh so clever.

Daddy Day Care isn't offensive, it's not poorly made and to it's credit it doesn't overdo the bathroom humor that has become a staple of similar films. Director Steve Carr, who previously directed Murphy in Dr. Dolittle, shows once again that he is a technically proficient director in that he knows where to point the camera and shoot. That said he brings little else to this uninteresting and overly familiar movie.

Movie Review: The Adventures of Pluto Nash

The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002) 

Directed by Ron Underwood 

Written by Neil Cuthbert 

Starring Eddie Murphy, Rosario Dawson, Randy Quaid, Pam Grier, Jay Mohr, Peter Boyle 

Release Date August 16th, 2002 

Published August 16th, 2002 

There have been a lot of bad things said about The Adventures Of Pluto Nash, a lot of those things stemming from the films mega-budget and two-year shelf life. A lot of bad things continue to be said, but not by me.  While Pluto Nash isn't a great film it's not nearly as bad as many people say it is. Much like a ball rolling down a hill, the negative bias against Pluto Nash has obscured what is a desperately mediocre movie into a 'worst of all time' candidate. Don't believe the hype. 

Eddie Murphy is Pluto Nash, the most popular nightclub owner on the moon. Things couldn't be better, especially after he hires a gorgeous new waitress named Dina (Rosario Dawson). Things change quickly however after Pluto refuses to sell his club to a mobster named Crater. After the club is blown up, Pluto, Dina and Pluto's robot bodyguard Bruno (Randy Quaid) go on the run and eventually go after Crater. They are helped along the way by a great supporting cast including Pam Grier, Peter Boyle, Jay Mohr, and Luis Guzman.

It's good to see the old cocky, confident Eddie Murphy back even if he isn't at the top of his game. As Pluto Nash, Murphy is back as the conman always two steps ahead of everyone else. Here he’s far more appealing than his recent buffoonish turn in Showtime. For me, Murphy is always at his best when he's the Bugs Bunny-esque, quick on his feet, coolest guy in the room Eddie Murphy. Far too much in this period of Eddie's career he appears to have lost his confidence and with it, his appeal. Seeing Eddie get a little of his confidence back in Pluto Nash is perhaps adding a little shine to this otherwise worthless movie. 

Pluto Nash is a unique combination of 40's gangster movies with cheesy 50's sci-fi and it's those touches of classic genre that provide the film it's comic atmosphere. The more modern humor, such as having Hillary Clinton's face on the hundred-dollar bill, on the other hand, feels forced, desperate, and deeply unfunny. 

Many people, without even seeing this The Adventures of Pluto Nash, decided that it was a bad movie. Honestly, as someone who admires my fellow movie critics, I was one who was willing to buy into how historically terrible The Adventures of Pluto Nash was supposed to be. Then, I actually saw the movie. So the best review I could give The Adventures Of Pluto Nash is that, though it is bad, it's not historically, worst of all time bad. 

Movie Review Showtime

Showtime (2002) 

Directed by Tom Dey 

Written by Keith Sharon

Starring Eddie Murphy, Robert DeNiro, Rene Russo, Kadeem Hardison, Nestor Serrano 

Release Date March 15th, 2002

Published March 14th, 2002 

The buddy cop movie is a dying genre. For every Rush Hour and Lethal Weapon there are any number of odd couple mismatched partners. One partner is the gruff vet, the other is the crazy wildman. They fly around big cities fighting drug dealers and terrorists, blowing up city blocks and killing any number of people with no consequence. The latest example of this mindless stupidity is the Deniro-Murphy mismatched buddy cop movie Showtime.

Robert Deniro is the gruff but lovable detective who breaks all the rules, and always gets his man. Deniro's most recent bust cost the city of Los Angeles millions of dollars. The only way to pay the debt is to team up with a pretty TV producer (Rene Russo) for a Cops-style reality TV show. Of course Deniro, while he's a good cop, isn't very friendly. The producer decides he needs a wacky partner. Enter Eddie Murphy as a beat cop who wants to be an actor. Eddie sees the TV show as a way to further his acting career. So now we have our gruff but lovable lead and wacky off the wall partner, now we need a colorful bad guy.

Well the bad guy in Showtime wasn't all that colorful, I honestly can't remember whether the baddies were drug dealer or terrorists. Actually, they might have been drug-dealing terrorists. It doesn't really matter.

Eddie Murphy is a spectacularly funny actor, but he needs to make better decisions. As the star of Beverly Hills Cop, Murphy was Mr. Attitude. He was the coolest guy in the room and he knew it. In Murphy's most recent roles he has allowed himself to become less confident, less cool. Murphy has allowed himself to be made the fool. Eddie's appeal is as the Bugs Bunny of the action movie. He is at his best when his character is one step ahead of everybody, cracking wise and kicking ass. In Showtime and his most recent work he has been buffoonish and it's not fun to watch. Like Willie Mays with the New York Mets or Michael Jordan with the Washington Wizards, Eddie Murphy has lost a step.

It isn't just Murphy that makes Showtime a dull movie. Combine Murphy's performance with Deniro's sleepwalking and the lame dying mismatched buddy cop movie and you get Showtime.