Mad Ramblings of a Movie Geek 07.09.08: Eddie Murphy's Greatest Hits

Posted by Jordan Bruns on 07.09.2008

Just in case he does decide to retire...

Welcome to Mad Ramblings of a Movie Geek! Before I begin, I'd like to take a moment and revisit last week's column. Regarding my list of comedians in serious roles, readers sent me a number of examples of performances they felt could/should have made the list. First off, I highly encourage feedback like this. It is both humbling and informative. I'm not responding to all, but here's why some of them didn't make the cut:

Rodney Dangerfield in Natural Born Killers:

This was nothing more than an overblown cameo, plus the movie itself is a satire so not technically dramatic.

Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love and Spanglish:

These roles may have been quantum leaps for Sandler at the time, but they're still comedic performances.

David Schwimmer in Breast Men:

This was also a comedic performance. Even it weren't it wouldn't matter because David Schwimmer is not a comedian.

George Carlin in The Prince of Tides:

I admit it. I've been powned. Is it too late to exempt movies that star Barbara Streisand?

I read in last week's Furious on Film that Eddie Murphy was considering hanging up his acting boots and returning to stand-up. Well, I had all but given up on his film career until Dreamgirls. Of course that's looking more and more like a fluke, and I've all but given up on his film career yet again. Once the Shrek franchise runs out of steam he may not see any more big pay days for a while. So, maybe it is time to not necessarily hang it up, but take a break. He seems to have overexposed himself of late.

His returning to stand-up could be a mixed bag. If it's old school Eddie, then all I say is "I'll be there." But if he's up there telling jokes like "Dr. Doolittle and Pluto Nash walk into a bar…" I just might find myself reaching for the nearest mallet.

In all likelihood he's not going anywhere. But it got me thinking, if he did leave the biz, what kind of legacy would he leave behind? I'm not going into that here. Let's not eulogize his career just yet. But I felt this would be the perfect opportunity for me to list some of my favorite Eddie Murphy movies- the ones I most enjoy, and some that I think are underappreciated. I sense I may be becoming 411's "list guy" so might I suggest "compilation guy" as an alternative?

Anyway, once again I'm going in chronological order and if a movie doesn't make the list it doesn't always mean I don't like or appreciate it.

Beverly Hills Cop(1984):




My Mad Ramblings
This movie made Murphy a mega-star. He was already a known face from his SNL days, but the one-two combo of 48 Hrs and Trading Places made him a hot commodity in Tinseltown. He then starred opposite Dudley Moore in Best Defense, which I'd like to forget ever happened. It seems the general public shared my opinion.

However, he quickly recovered from that disaster when he accepted a role that the Italian Stallion turned down. This was a project that had languished in development hell for nearly a decade. Eddie Murphy made it worth the wait. The story was simple: a Detroit police officer travels to Beverly Hills to hunt down a friend's killer. Now picture that cop as a 22-year-old Eddie Murphy. The result: Box Office gold and an Academy Award Nomination for Best Original Screenplay- not to mention what it did for Murphy's career (see above).

The Golden Child(1986):




My Mad Ramblings
Mel Gibson turned this role down. Eddie Murphy accepted. Like Beverly Hills Cop, it was made into a comic vehicle for Murphy. It was a Box Office Success but a critical failure.

I'll admit it doesn't rank among his best work but it will always be a guilty pleasure of mine. It's a cheesy movie but it's got some good comedic moments from Eddie. Among them are Chandler Jarrell's(Murphy) quest for the Ajanti Dagger, as well as his attempts to sing along to the Tibetan music playing on his headphones during an international flight. And it features "Body Talk" by Ratt!

Coming To America(1988):




My Mad Ramblings
This was Murphy's best work up to that point and contains some of the most quotable dialogue of any of his movies. It still holds up nicely after twenty years, and with Murphy playing multiple roles it was sort of a precursor to The Nutty Professor and Norbit. Forget about the nasty plagiarism lawsuit that accompanied it, it was a real step forward for Murphy. Too bad his career stalled for a few years afterwards.

Coming To America is also notable for the amusing cameos by Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy as their Trading Places characters, who are now homeless bums. Akeem gives them a bunch of money- apparently nobody told him what douchebags those guys were. Oh, and I almost forgot James Earl Jones as Eddie's father… I'm going to resist the urge to make a lame Star Wars joke here. But most importantly, there is… Soul Glo and Sexual Chocolate!

The Distinguished Gentleman(1992):




My Mad Ramblings
Remember that career slump I mentioned earlier? He was in the middle of it when he did this movie, but I still dig it. Here he plays a con-man who decides to run for congress. Since his name is similar to that of a recently deceased congressman, he decides that "name recognition" will be his key to victory. So, Thomas Jefferson Johnson decides to run as "Jeff Johnson" (the name of the dead guy) and manages to win.

Of course it's all just part of his scheme, until he develops a conscience and realizes that his political cohorts are the "real" criminals. This movie was a box office failure and panned by critics upon its release, which is really what makes it worth checking out. Perhaps our nation's capital was portrayed too accurately.

This is a highly underrated Eddie Murphy vehicle. He's tamer here, but he's still Eddie… or Ed, as I sometimes call him…

Bowfinger(1999):




My Mad Ramblings
This was the brainchild of Steve Martin, who wrote and starred along with Murphy (who plays duel roles). Here, Martin is a down-on-his luck movie producer and Murphy is a Hollywood superstar. Martin wants to make a movie with Murphy but he says no. So he decides to film it without his knowledge. He stages scenes around him and has a hidden camera in the background, which eventually causes him to think aliens are after him (the movie is about aliens). He goes into hiding so Martin hires his brother (also Murphy) to shoot the remaining scenes.

The teaming of two comic luminaries is what gives this movie much of its humor and charm. That, and the way that it brilliantly satirizes Hollywood and the film industry, are what makes Bowfinger a worthy inclusion in this compilation.

Now here is why some of Murphy's other works didn't make the cut:

48 Hrs: It's good, but it was his first movie. It offers only a glimpse of what was to come.

Beverly Hills Cop II and Another 48 Hrs: They're sequels.

Eddie Murphy Raw: He's not as funny here as he was in his 1983 HBO special Delirious.

Harlem Nights: It's decent but that's just not good enough. A movie with Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, and Redd Foxx should be way more than decent. It should have you pissing your pants from laughing so hard.

The Nutty Professor: It's a good movie, but it's also to blame for the string of family-oriented roles he's been taking lately. I could not, in good conscience, include it.

Life: A good pairing of Murphy and Martin Lawrence, but it's about two guys who are sentenced to life in prison for a murder they didn't commit. Sure they escape.. after 65 years. Even though this movie has some funny moments, it's hard to see it as anything other than a sad tale of two lives ruined by racism.

That's it for this week's Mad Ramblings. Until next time…