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[Trailer] ‘Dolemite Is My Name’ Is Eddie Murphy’s Funniest Movie In Years

Phyllis Coley @phyllis_coley

In ‘Dolemite Is My Name’ Eddie Murphy portrays real-life legend Rudy Ray Moore, a comedy and rap pioneer who proved naysayers wrong when his hilarious, obscene, kung-fu fighting alter ego, Dolemite, became a 1970s Blaxploitation phenomenon. And while director Craig Brewer’s film is a pretty superficial examination of Rudy’s life and times, it’s nevertheless a blast from start-to-finish, and Murphy’s funniest star movie in years.

 

Rudy Ray Moore was a remarkable man who made his mark in movies very much on his own terms. He spent the 1960s and early ‘70s working as a singer, dancer and stand-up comic, but in spite of a strong work ethic and a seemingly endless supply of positivity, Rudy never quite made it. Inspiration strikes when he comes up with a new act inspired by a foul-mouthed hobo.

Rudy sets about creating a larger-than-life persona and in one of the movie’s most entertaining scenes, Murphy mugs in front of a mirror, donning big hair and bright suits, and combining attitude and swagger with a fast-talking patter that’s a funky precursor to rap. Dolemite is the name, and pimping is his game.

The first half of the Dolemite saga is a rags-to-near riches tale that sends up the record industry, establishes Rudy Ray Moore as a likable anti-hero, and enables Murphy to pay tribute to a comedian who paved the way for his own outrageous stand-up. It’s also seriously funny. Inspiration for the second half strikes when Rudy and his friends are watching a film filled with white people, and distinctly lacking in jokes, breasts, and kung fu. His comedy gang set about remedying that deficiency by crafting their own movie, based on personal experiences, as well as cribbing from the Blaxploitation hits of the time.

(Photos: Courtesy of Netflix)

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With studios both major and minor turning the project down down, Rudy sets up shop in an abandoned hotel, hires a legit playwright to pen his pimp’s tale, ropes in a group of white film students to oversee technical side of things, and makes minor movie star D’Urville Martin (Welsey Snipes) both his director and villain. What follows is like a cross between The Disaster Artist and Ed Wood – no surprise as screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszowski penned the latter – in which we go behind-the-scenes on an unorthodox film set where Rudy runs and guns and pretty much makes it up as he goes along.

And it’s a fun ride, focusing on an incorrigible funnyman who pretty much willed himself into stardom. This makes Eddie Murphy a fine choice for the lead, in that he did much the same thing, albeit earlier in life, and with far more talent than the guy he’s playing. The role of Rudy Ray Moore affords Murphy the opportunity to flex his stand-up muscles, and he dominates the screen whenever he’s onstage.

As presented here, Rudy was a charmer, an entrepreneur, and something of an amateur philosopher and Murphy is convincing as all three. The one drawback being the role is so close to home that it’s hard to separate Murphy from the character, with it all-too-often feeling like Eddie rather than Rudy onscreen.

Elsewhere the likes of Titus Burgess, Mike Epps, Craig Robinson and Keegan-Michael Key bring the laughs as the Dolemite crew, while Wesley Snipes stays just the right side of parody as the haughty Martin, who spends proceedings either drinking, snorting, or sneering at those he believes to be beneath him, which is pretty much everyone.

‘Dolemite Is My Name’ premieres on Netflix on October 25, 2019.