Eddie Murphy: What's his problem?

Okay, maybe this doesn't really answer what you're getting at, but I'm rolling with this anyway:

I'm smirking while writing this, since my 15 year old daughter was watching the Nuggets game with me last night. After watching that Carmen Elektra commercial for whatever product where she wears the hot dress to go "bowling", my daughter asked me if bimbos are really dumb or just play up the perception of being dumb to make more money.

Call me cynical if you want to, but I think of most Hollywood-types in that way, that is, they'll do what they need to do in order to make as much money as possible while they still can & Eddie Murphy is no exception. (I actually heard that Ms. Elektra has a 175 IQ & is just that good at playing dumb... okay... truthfully, no I didn't but did anyone buy that for a second or two?)

It doesn't matter to me whether it's driven by contractual obligations, or his inner Pluto Nash driving him toward this stuff like a moth is drawn to the flame. Eddie Muphy is in it for the money. And I really don't let something like that impact whether I watch him in his next movie, the same way that winning his award won't really determine that for me either.

Lets hope they actually do something new with Beverly Hills Cop 4....in fact here's an idea ...don't set it in Beverly Hills...don't have anything to do with Beverly Hills in the plot and change his outfit.....I only ever liked the first Beverly Hills Cop and even that looks a little aged nowadays but some of the lines are still funny.....Eddie's in it for as much money as possible and from what i hear he's back to his womanising ways ( must be the mid life crisis ) shame really as the guy has never really pushed himself with the movies he tends to do and he does have real talent but some of the scripts he get are so bad ( can anyone say typecast )

He was brillliant in Dream Girls. I am totally sick of Norbit-type movies, and what is with his fascination of getting in fat suits? I really hate that crap.

I'd be surprised if he needs the money- his third go as Donkey in the Shrek movies should see to that. His last decent success in an onscreen comedy was Nutty Professor and this is an obvious attempt to serve up more of the same.

The guy's got several ex-wives and about a dozen children. I bet he does need every penny he can scrape together.

I wish he'd just go back to doing stand up.

I saw that and thought, gee a guy in a fat suit, I wonder why no one ever thought of that gimmick before

It's almost as if he was abducted by aliens. He can't be the same person who did stand-up in "Delirious", "Raw" and all those great SNL skits!

Let's not forget 48 Hrs. - a very funny movie.

True.

Even Bowfinger doesn't hold up very well on a second viewing. IMO Eddie's last great starring vehicle was Trading Places.

>Eddie's last great starring vehicle was Trading Places.

That's a 1983 film! That's sad for once the funniest man in America...

And it was only his second film Actually, I thought it was after Beverly Hills Cop and it was actually just before. So I can see people at least granting him that one more even though I think I stay behind my statement. Some people might even give him Coming To America but I thought that one was fairly weak myself. Three decent films, and all downhill from there. Definitely a shame.

hahah! leave him alone.

Beverly Hills Cop 1 & 2 were great! They were good action movies with a bit of comedy added to them... The problem with Beverly Hills Cop 3 is that it's a comedy with a bit of action added to it... Are they really making a 4th?

Both 48 hrs, Coming to America and Trading Places were good movies... And I also like both Shrek movies but that's about all of his good movies.

So Eddie's the only hypocrite in Hollywood? Please......sometimes actors choose parts because they love a script or certain character, sometimes they simply do a part to pay for college-tuition for the kiddies or a vacation home.

I personally think he peaked at The Nutty Professor and has gone down ever since. But remember who he initially displaced as the number-one box office draw: Burt Reynolds. Meaning, no one last forever in tinsel-town.

agreed.

Coming to America (1988) is a cult classic. That movie is filled with great quotes from beginning to end. It's like the black Monte Python.

-"So, anything I tell you to do, you will do??? Bark like a dog... a big dog..."

-"Prepare to defend yourself, you sweat from a baboons ba11s"

-"She's your queeeeen, to be..."

-"Boy, what kind of chemicals d'you put in this?... I use no chemicals, only juices and berries... shhh, that ain't nuthin but ultra perm, how'you want me to cut this? Ohh, just make it nice and neat. 'snip' That'll be $8!"


I'll conceed that his recent stuff has been rubbish (Shrek 1 excluded) but what exactly is Norbit? I'm not familiar with that acronym.

I don't think he ever said that he didn't want to do the same old crap, just that he wanted to prove that he could also do a good movie.


It didn't hold up to a first viewing for me. I thought it was terrible through and through.


It's not an acronym. It's the title of his latest Nutty Professor-style crapfest:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477051/

Very true

Also, does anyone think that maybe he filmed Norbit before he made the comment? I'm by no means an Eddie Murphy 'fan', but I think that if we're going to talk about Mr. Murphy and his hypocrisy we should keep in mind that there are at least 10,000 other actors in Hollywood doing the same thing on a daily basis.

Eddie is making money doing what he does best. No problem with that.
The only issue is that he REALLY thinks he is doing serious work, when he NEVER has.
There are comedians who do serious work. (Robin Williams to name a VERY good example.)
Eddie is just not one of them.

Chris.

PS. Don't get me wrong, many of these movies are REALLY funny, just not serious.

I agree as well.

I will always put his first 2 comedy albums up against ANYONE'S before or since.

IMHO those 2 albums are still the funniest comedy albums ever released.

The first one was called EDDIE MURPHY(he had a rose above his ear on the cover I think) and the second was called EDDIE MURPHY: DELIRIOUS.

RAW was OK, but not nearly as good as those two.

Most people may not agree with this, but Eddie at his peak in his stand up days was the BEST STAND UP COMIC ever IMHO.

Richard Pryor. George Carlin. Bill Cosby. Ray Ramano. Jerry Seinfeld.

I personally feel even though he did not do it in the spotlight for many years as a stand up, he is the best ever.

Kinda like Sandy Koufax.

Didn't pitch for very long, but over a 5-6 year period was without question the best pitcher in the game. And many have argued hat he may have been the best ever.

Delirious is going to be released on DVD on 2/6/07. I can't wait. I still have my VHS copy and have been waiting a long time to replace it with the DVD. I wonder if his first album was ever videotaped. That one was even funnier than Delirious.

I don't care how much you want to be an "artist." If somebody offers you 20 mil to do a picture (which I think is his asking price), it would be mighty tempting to take it. Even if you're already loaded. And the movie sucks.

I remember him being interviewed back in 1986 about whether he should consider doing something a little more serious. I can't remember the quote to a particular stage play that he happened to mention about, being it was back in 1986.

He also made a comment at the academy awards many years ago about black people that hardly win academy awards, he made references to past winners and the time frame between the passing years as joke, or was he joking.

LOL

What like bucket mouthing! I have grown a little bored with that while he might been funny as Axel Foley's foul mouth and the banana in the tail pipe it's worn off long ago.

Banana in my tailpipe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqzNFnEjr_c