comment #1

rr3333 says ...

The things that made Murphy funny was 'hunger'. The guy hasn't been hungry in nearly 25 years.

The only thing Murphy is hungry for is cold hard cash. All the interviews I heard when he was 'promoting' Dreamgirls was that Katzenberg wanted him to do it for very little money, and that bothered him a great deal. Katzenberg had to BEG him to do it.

He could have done the film version of 'Fences' many moons ago, but he didnt want to do it if he wasnt getting paid!

The only director's Eddie wants to work for is guys he can control. Thats why he keeps working with the no-talent hack who was on that lame sitcom 'Head of the Class'.

Its very sad, because this guy is so freakin' talented, but his motivation has been, and continues to be, MONEY.

I say he will do BHC 4 as long as he gets his 20 mil.

comment #2

MikeSchaeferSF says ...

The bloom may indeed be off the rose, but so far the studio is doing a *horrible* job of promoting Meet Dave, considering that Norbit, awful as it was, was a huge hit.

comment #3

115thDreamer says ...

What he needs to do is forgot about doing projects where it's strictly an "Eddie Murphy vehicle" and turn himself over to another comic talent and do a supporting turn or be a co-lead with someone else. He was damn near brilliant in "Bowfinger", and would be well advised to look for a good (if not lead) role in a really well-written screenplay. Why wouldn't he work in a Farelly Brothers movie, something like that?

comment #4

Ben C says ...

Murphy ought to team up with Mike Meyers and the EPIC MOVIE guys to make a 3 hour epic, playing every single pop-culture figure in the past 25 years with chronic gas.

comment #5

Arran says ...

I find the idea of Murphy reading tracking numbers hilarious for some reason. "Fuck. I'm only at 78, 9, 8, and 3. My career is over. I think. What the fuck do these numbers mean again? I better call Wells."

comment #6

BillRamsey says ...

Hate to tell you, but a thousand words is a great script and a great idea.

And meet dave is a pretty good script. The marketing is terrible. And yes, i agree, it looks horrible.

But lots of people wanted to do a 1000 words.. it's a pretty high profile project.

comment #7

Chase Kahn says ...

Here's one person crossing his fingers Murphy is retiring from film. It's sad when I don't want to go see Wall*E again because of the Meet Dave preview...

comment #8

Chicago48 says ...

Nothing new...he told Barbara Walters on the TV special he wanted to retire when he's 50....and he was brilliant in Bowfinger and Dreamgirls and should take supporting roles....all Eddie isn't very funny anymore.

comment #9

Richardson says ...

I was surprised at how funny I thought Murphy looked in the 'Meet Dave' trailer. The movie itself looked, at best, terrible, but he looked funnier in that movie than he has been in a long, long time. [Arguably twenty years, excluding 'Bowfinger'.]

comment #10

raygo says ...

Dreamgirls is on rotation (again) on HBO ... along with Little Miss Sunshine ... you really can't compare Arkin and Murphy ... that Oscar rightfully belongs to Murphy, even if he is a dick.

comment #11

rr3333 says ...

BillRamsey:

1000 Words was written by the immortal Steve Koren, who wrote 'Click', 'Evan Almighty', 'Superstar' and 'Night at the Roxbury'.

1000 Words is being directed by Brian Robbins who did 'Norbit' and 'Meet Dave'.

High Profile Project ?? Who we kidding here?

Are you Koren's agent?

comment #12

Aladdin Sane says ...

I'd love to see Murphy do standup again. I haven't really liked a movie of his since Bowfinger - didn't see Dreamgirls mind you...but the Nutty Professor stuff etc just doesn't fly for me (and a lot of others it seems). That being said, some of the Meet Dave stuff does look funny...but not enough for me to shell out my hard earned dollars.

comment #13

CinemaPhreek says ...

",,,,and then people really didn't like his graceless ass when he bolted out of the Kodak theatre ,,,"

You can beat on that drum until Daihachi Oguchi rises from his grave, but no one is dancing to it.

People could care less and even without having seen his work in DREAMGIRLS and being an early SUNSHINE advocate I fully realize that Arkin's was a hammy performance that was the Academy's annual lifetime achievement award.

comment #14

quitstaringatme says ...

Why is it people always have such reverence for Eddie Murphy's old stand up? Maybe I was too young then to catch it when it was part of the zeitgeist, but seriously, "What if Mr. T was a fag?" That's not funny, that's cheap. Especially after watching all the George Carlin this past week on youtube, Murphy seems so dated and lazy, to me he's just a bunch of fart jokes and fat suits.

And yet, people always have to put him in the pantheon of "great stand ups". Really bugs me.

comment #15

Jeremy Smith says ...

Get with it, rr3333. Koren's A THOUSAND WORDS is right there with HARROW ALLEY and Pinter's PROUST SCREENPLAY - which, coincidentally, is on Brian Robbins's development slate as well.

comment #16

LexG says ...

Quitstaringatme...

That was actually a worthwhile post about Eddie's standup. Great comedic actor, great sketch comic, incredible mimic, huge talent -- all no doubt.

But he's always esteemed in that pantheon of standup greats... on the basis of Delirious, I assume. Because Raw is EXTREMELY uneven.

Compared to the scorched-earth work of Chris Rock or the explosive, soul-baring, revolutionary work of Pryor, Eddie mostly... did homophobic impressions and sang songs about ice cream. Again, he is a LEGEND and a great comic talent, but just talking pure STAND-UP, I always bristle when people act like he, Pryor and Cosby are on an exact equal plane.

All that said...

METRO OWNS YOUR ASS. RECOGNIZE METRO.

comment #17

LexG says ...

Also wanted to add that I've always likened EDDIE to SLY STALLONE and BURT REYNOLDS.

Movie stars first and foremost. Absolutely great at what they do, but usually they were the stars of their vehicles, not the director.

As others have mentioned, same vibe from Eddie... Sometimes it seems like a great director could throw a great script his way, and if there was no fat suit, no dice.

comment #18

huntermdaniels says ...

I've actually heard GREAT things about his next film, Nowhereland. The studio did some test screenings and it played like gangbusters. Moreover, people with taste have told me it's good.

Though, they don't have infallible taste, so who knows.

comment #19

MilkMan says ...

Eddie Murphy is a miserable sleazebag who has spent the last 20-odd years trolling around Los Angeles with his bodyguards looking for poontang. He could give two fucks about his fans, or his artistic legacy, having convinced himself a long time ago that his double whammy of Buckwheat Sings the Hits/James Brown's Hot Tub Party was the apex of Western Civilization. If I never saw his scowling face ever again it would be too soon.

Fuck you, Eddie Murphy.
Don't let the door hit you on your leather-clad ass on the way out.
Thanks for nothing but a few chuckles when I was 12, douchebag.

comment #20

Cadavra says ...

I remember back when he was still on SNL, and during an interview with TV GUIDE, he answered the phone, spoke for a few moments, then nonchalantly mentioned that his agent had just gotten him an extra million for his next movie (probably BEST DEFENSE). And around the same time, he railed in a PLAYBOY interview about how much he hated children and would never have any. How many does he have now, six? Seven?

Bottom line: he's always been a jerk, but nobody cared until he stopped being a sure thing. Not the first, won't be the last.

comment #21

Richardson says ...

"But he's always esteemed in that pantheon of standup greats... on the basis of Delirious, I assume. Because Raw is EXTREMELY uneven."

The part he is talking about is in 'Delirious'; 'Raw' has the far superior bit, Murphy talking about Mr T's reaction to the "What if Mr. T was a fag?" stuff.

If you're going to write off great stand-up performers -- and he certainly was a great performer of comedy, though not neccessarily a great writer -- because they were homophobic in the '80's, it seems like you have to write off *everybody* except maybe Seinfeld. You'd certainly lose Kinison (a shame), Clay (less of a shame), and of course Carlin (he eventually stopped referring to "faggots", but it was all over the early specials).

Seems like a waste, to me. It was the times. It dates certain parts of the comedy, and even gets uncomforable (especially in 'Raw'), but there's so much more to it than just those bits.

Murphy talking about his old stand-up just stole Pryor's style, and then launching into a *perfect* Pryor impression talking about taking a shit, that's gold.

I think people give him more credit as a stand-up than he might merit because his stand-up movie was much easier to find. He's certainly not as good as Pryor or Cosby, but he does know how to do it like them and be comprable. The long, long part where he's talking about his father yelling at his mother -- that's Cosby's storytelling but with a darker quality.

comment #22

BillRamsey says ...

R3333333 or like I say "Mister Insider" -- you are so right. So how many TV shows have you created like Brian Robbins? Just curious. I doubt you are even a PA.

As for a 1000 words, a couple of stars circled it and even a couple non norbit people wanted to direct it. and good job with the IMDB listings.... now go back to being bitter and writing stuff on blogs... boo-yah!

and i hate to tell you this as well, meet dave was originally called Starship Dave and that was a hot script as well. But go ahead and imdb them and bad mouth then while trying to get your netflix quue up and running......

comment #23

D.Z. says ...

rr: I remember liking Head of the Class, but maybe it was just due to Hesseman and Connolly.

comment #24

movieirv says ...

gee, nobody's mentioning his work in th eshrek films. he was funny in them,

comment #25

movieirv says ...

robert downey, sr. has said that murphy contacting him about remaking his favorite fiklm, putney swope. this could actually work if they get rid of the overbearing second part of the film. this to me seems like a remake that can improve on the original, which i think, is 1/2 of a classic.

comment #26

erniesouchak says ...

I've always thought Murphy was at his best as a character actor, whether on "SNL" or in films. We all know he's been saddled with these ridiculous-looking family films since he got caught with a trannie. He could stop making movies tomorrow and no one would really care. But it would be a shame, especially if there's another "Bowfinger" in his future.

comment #27

Spicer says ...

Doesn't Eddie (or didn't he at one time) own the screen rights to August Wilson's play "Fences?" That's the sort of thing he should be doing. Is there a talent who has underachieved more than Eddie?

comment #28

BurmaShave says ...

Yeah FENCES when he's old enough for the lead would be a tremendous comeback vehicle.

comment #29

PoisonSkin says ...

there's way he could jump back into comedy and be really good again. he's been a punk for far to long.

I'd love to see him try though. and be good

comment #30

nola says ...

He was great in Bowfinger.

Regarding his standup his telling of his father's BBQ, with Uncle Gus and Aunt Bunny sealed his rep. That nine minutes of comedy from Delirious was fucking hilarious.

Not sure what the heck happened to him.

comment #31

rr3333 says ...

'Delirious' was 100 years ago, when Eddie could relate to the common man. He was great on SNL back in the day because he wasnt far removed from him humble beginnings.

He's been taking private jets for more than 25 years now. I doubt anything he would say in a stand-up medium now would be anything remotely funny.

comment #32

Bob Violence says ...

If you're going to write off great stand-up performers -- and he certainly was a great performer of comedy, though not neccessarily a great writer -- because they were homophobic in the '80's, it seems like you have to write off *everybody* except maybe Seinfeld. You'd certainly lose Kinison (a shame), Clay (less of a shame)

Screw that, The Day the Laughter Died is one of the greatest works of stand-up performance ever committed to tape or CD (calling it "comedy" seems inappropriate given that there aren't any, y'know, jokes). Produced by Rick Rubin, even -- he definitely earned that paycheck.

comment #33

Richardson says ...

I've always been intrigued to listen to "The Day the Laughter Died". I don't much like Clay's jokes, but the descriptions i've read of that have always sounded pretty interesting.

I think it's important to put Murphy in the context of the time, though, that's all I meant. I was watching either 'Delirious' or 'Raw' with my 20-year-old roommate, and she was shocked that he was making jokes about "fags" and AIDS and all that, and I told her, "Yeah, it's ugly, but that was stand-up comedy twenty years ago."

I also don't understand people who write off 'Gone With The Wind' or 'Dumbo' because what was progressive in those days is now laughably racist.

comment #34

Valerie Cherish says ...

Why has AUNT SASSY been BANNED???

I miss her insightful comments on film, and her bitchy commentary. She added a refreshing viewpoint to this site.

FREE AUNT SASSY!!!