Since the beginning of the 2000s, it has been a rough go being a dedicated Eddie Murphy fan. With the exception of only a couple cinematic potholes, the actor-comedian’s run from 1982 through his winning turn in 2001’s Shrek was fruitful, holding more than a few comedy classics. Over the past couple of decades, the old Eddie Murphy magic has been stifled in one failed project after another. With Tim Story’s new Amazon release, The Pickup, the legendary comedian and his talented costars find themselves stranded in a one Hell of a bad movie.
Without question, Eddie Murphy is one of the funniest comic actors (perhaps THE funniest) of his generation. It is rare when a performer begins their career with such a strong bang. Walter Hill’s 48 Hrs. lit up the box office in 1982, while HBO’s Delirious was the comedy special heard ‘round the world in October of 1983. John Landis’ Trading Places (also in 83) solidified Murphy as a unique comic presence who was a multitalented natural on screen. Further hits would come in the form of great entertainments such as 1984’s Beverly Hills Cop, John Landis’ Coming to America in 1988, 1992’s Boomerang, the 1996 remake of Jerry Lewis’ The Nutty Professor, and Ted Demme’s Life in 1999. Each film understood what made their star shine and allowed him characters and stories to match his enormous talents.
Post-Shrek in 2001, Murphy pivoted to more family oriented fare. Commendable, but no one would argue the Dr. Doolittle and Haunted Mansion films were classics. 2011’s Tower Heist returned Murphy to the vulgar, adult-minded, action comedies that he knows best. While it was no great shakes, the film led to (for better or worse) a fourth Beverly Hills Cop and a second Coming to America. Neither film worked, but the old Eddie Murphy was back.
Director Tim Story jumped at the chance to cast the star in his new heist comedy, The Pickup. In theory, this could be the perfect vehicle for the star. Instead, the final product is a film so insipid, it makes the 1984 Murphy/Dudley Moore bomb, The Best Defense, look like The Godfather.
Written by Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider, The Pickup can’t seem to locate a tone or an original idea. The screenplay an ugly collage of drab action moments and underwritten characters.
Eddie Murphy plays Russel Pierce, an armored car security guard who is, apparently, a legend at the company. Why? The script doesn’t care to tell us. Today is the 25th anniversary of marriage to his wife, Natalie (an offensively stereotyped Eva Longoria).
Pete Davidson is Travis Stolley, the standard Pete Davidson character that fails to tap into what makes the actor so funny and endearing. The role is nothing more than quirks and annoyances that leave Davidson flailing around, searching for something to latch onto.
That morning, Russell is paired with “the new guy”, Travis. Of course, Russell pushes back against his boss (a completely wasted Andrew Dice Clay), but is forced to hit the road with his unwanted partner.
Can you imagine the comic gold mined from putting these two SNL alums in a truck together for most of the film? You will need to, as the film gives them bupkiss. It became quite depressing to watch these two talents try their damnedest to salvage a dead film by throwing out a good deal of “Hail Mary” improvs. Nothing lands.
Enter the naturally funny Keke Palmer (who struck comedy gold with January’s hilarious One of Them Days) as Zoe, a woman who seduces Travis following a ridiculous mishap at a bank. You see, Zoe is revealed to be a thief who is hatching a plan to rob Russell and Travis’ armored truck. This is not a spoiler, as it is the basic hook for the film’s plot. Along with two shady sidekicks, Miguel (Ismael Cruz Cordiva) and Banner (Jack Kesy in the film’s most ridiculously awful performance), Zoe proceeds with her preposterous, high-tech, scheme. Is she really a bad person or is there something else behind her reasons for hijacking the truck? The answer can be found by anyone who has seen at least three movies in their lifetime.
Endless car stunts and gunfire ensue, but Tim Story films everything through such a generic lens that the entire film is a drab and ugly slog. One of the film’s stunts is actually a standout, as exploding dye packs and a character being blasted backwards out of a moving truck make for a too-quick eye-popping moment. These thrilling thirty or so seconds turn out to be the only life in the entire film.
Keke Palmer, Pete Davidson, and of course Eddie Murphy, are all big talents. In The Pickup, each actor is creatively sidelined. Murphy looks bored, Davidson tries too hard, and Palmer seems to be seconds away from turning to the camera and apologizing to the audience. No one’s heart is in this thing. The film gives them nothing to work with; wasting the potential for “lightning in a cinematic bottle” by having these three together.
Regarding the film itself, there isn’t much to say. What you see in the trailers is what it is. Nothing is new, or funny, or exciting. Story’s lifeless direction is numbing. There are moving images and people are talking, but The Pickup boils down to the equivalent of staring at a blank wall.
The blame does not fall on Eddie Murphy, regarding how modern movies have failed to give him the proper material to match his enormous talents. The man will always be one of the comedy greats and nothing will ever diminish the impact of the four or five classic comedies where his star shone the brightest.
To adjust a quote spoken by the character Norma Desmond from the 1950 Billy Wilder masterpiece Sunset Boulevard, “Eddie Murphy IS big. It’s the pictures that got small.”
An action comedy with dull action and unfunny comedy, The Pickup takes the award for the worst film of Murphy’s career, and I have seen Meet Dave and The Adventures of Pluto Nash! Perhaps I give the latter a small pass due to a character changing his name to “Tony Francis”.
There is nothing in this latest Tim Story travesty to seduce me.
The Pickup
Written by Kevin Burrows & Matt Mider
Directed by Tim Story
Starring Eddie Murphy, Pete Davidson, Keke Palmer, Eva Longoria, Andrew Dice Clay, Ismael Cruz Cordiva, Jack Kesy
R, 94 Minutes, Amazon MGM Studios, Eddie Murphy Productions, Davis Entertainment
