“The Whistler Film Festival was the first opportunity I got to sit in a room with strangers and have them watch the movie and I was very nervous going into it,” says comedian Brent Butt about his new film No Clue.
In the film he stars as Leo, a mild mannered Vancouver tchotchke salesman lured into a murder mystery by a femme fatale played by Amy Smart. “It’s a very dark, classic kind of detective mystery but the main characters say funny things,” says Butt.
“We really felt, totally objectively, that we made the movie we wanted to make but that part of my brain that is the stand up comic said, ‘What you think doesn’t really matter. The audience will let you know,’ and the audience is everything to me.
“Long before Corner Gas came around I was just a greasy nightclub comic, out there getting it done. When you are doing that you always have the ability to shift gears. You think, ‘They’re not buying the sports stuff so I’ll talk about politics,’ but with this movie if they’re not liking it five minutes in you can’t say, ‘Everybody go get a drink. I’m going to reedit this.’ You are locked in.”
Audience reaction was “better than we ever could have imagined” for a movie he calls a “tricky balancing act.”
“I wanted to make a movie that if it wasn’t funny would still be entertaining. It would still be thrilling and a mystery and have all those good, juicy elements and then the funny kind of folds in like gravy. It’s on top of everything else.
“From the writing stand point there were a lot of funny jokes I neglected to put in the movie because I felt this is funny but it is ultimately going to damage the reality. For this movie to work it has to feel real. One of the things we did early on was tell everybody to forget that this is a comedy. Pretend you are making a dark murder mystery. That’s what this is. The comedy will come in elsewhere.”
Butt cites a famous example of the kind of film he wanted to make.
“Beverly Hills Cop was written not to be a funny movie. It was written to be a thriller and then they cast Eddie Murphy and said, ‘Let’s make it funny.’ But if you take all the funny things that Eddie says out, it still holds water as an action movie.”
I find Eddie Murphy infuriating. It used to be that you could count on Eddie to raise a smile or two at the movies. I loved his silly giggle in Beverly Hills Cop, his version of Greatest Love of All in Coming to America, and the “My mother was like Clint Eastwood with a shoe…” routine from Delirious is one of the funniest monologues ever, but that was when Eddie and I were both much younger.
Now the prospect of a new Eddie Murphy movie is as welcome as a case of gingivitis. That makes me angry. He may be the biggest, most talented star in Hollywood who consistently makes the worst movies. Don’t get me wrong, nobody hits a home run every time but Murphy’s recent batting average is worse than most.
Meet Dave, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, The Haunted Mansion and Norbit are among the most annoying movies ever made. His latest, Imagine That, doesn’t plumb the depths of Pluto Nash or Norbit, but is only a slight improvement on his recent output.
Murphy is Evan, a high powered investment banker; a smart guy who makes deals all day long at work, but a terrible father who has no idea how to deal with his adorable daughter Olivia (Yara Shahidi) or ex wife Trish (Nicole Ari Parker). When a new employee at work with the unlikely name of Johnny White Feather (Thomas Haden Church) threatens his top dog status Evan turns to an unorthodox method of predicting the stock market—his daughter’s imaginary friends. With the aid of her security—or should that be securities—blanket he gets hot tips that get him noticed by the upper brass who are looking for someone to take over the company’s west coast division. Evan uses the time spent divining market fluctuations with his daughter and her imaginary friends to repair their broken relationship, but he’s still all business. That is until he realizes what’s really important in life.
Imagine That is a family fantasy movie that is more cute than actually funny. It’s also more predictable than funny. In fact, it’s a lot of things, but funny isn’t really one of them. There are a few laughs sprinkled throughout, but they are few and far between and Thomas Haden Church as the politically incorrect but rather amusing character White Feather gets most of them. He speaks in faux Native-American lingo, a mix of spiritual mumbo jumbo and tossed off lines like “the white fire grid you call the internet.” His early scenes are some of the film’s highlights.
Murphy hands in a solid performance as Evan, solid but not terribly interesting. He has a couple of funny moments and one very cute pancake making scene but there isn’t much going on here. He’s better than this and it’s disappointing to see him waste his talent on films that don’t require him to do much more than show up and cash a pay cheque.
Imagine That is forgettable family entertainment that’s better than Norbit and some other recent Murphy titles, but that isn’t saying much. It’s like being the sweetest lemon in the bushel; it still leaves a sour taste in your mouth.
This is the movie that probably cost Eddie Murphy his Oscar. He was nominated for his tour de force performance in Dreamgirls but had the misfortune to have Norbit open in theatres the week the Academy voters were casting their ballots. All the goodwill Murphy accumulated with Dreamgirls evaporated into the ether as soon as the Oscar taste-makers got a load of him dressed as an aggressive 300 woman and the award went elsewhere.
Apart from the first ten minutes or so Norbit is a laugh free zone; a movie that mistakes prosthetics for humor. Murphy mines whatever comedy is buried under all the make-up he wears as he plays three different characters—the nerdy Norbit, his obese wife and an old Chinese restaurant owner—but the jokes are few and far between.
Eddie Murphy’s journey from edgy comedian to beloved family entertainer has been rough trip. Kiddie comedies and daddy roles sidelined him for much of the last twenty years, and for every highpoint, like the Donkey character in “Shrek” there is a “Norbit.” For every “Dreamgirls,” there’s a “Haunted Mansion” or “Imagine That.” It’s been tough to be an Eddie Murphy fan, watching his trademarked acerbic comedy dulled by fat suits. Anyway, his transformation was never entirely convincing because Murphy always had too much edge to be Bill Cosby or even Steve Martin.
“Tower Heist,” his new film with Ben Stiller and an all-star ensemble cast, sees him turning to the style that made him famous in movies like “48 Hours” and “Beverly Hills Cop.” Question is, will audiences still care?
Directed by “Rush Hour’s” Brett Ratner, the movie has a ripped-from-the-headlines story. Allan Alda is Arthur Shaw, a Bernie Madoff character whose Ponzi scheme defrauded his clients out of millions of dollars. Among those burned by his scam were the employees of his luxury high rise. Having lost their pension plan the building’s manager Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller) concocts a plan to break into Shaw’s apartment and steal his personal $20 million stash. When his posse of employees—Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck, Michael Pena and Gabourey Sidibe—prove to be less than criminally adept Kovacs brings in an old friend and ex-con, Slide (Murphy) to run the operation.
It’s nice to see Eddie Murphy in a movie that allows him to drop his beloved family entertainer guise and bring back some of the bravado that we loved in movies like 48 Hours. It’s just too bad the movie feels like it was made thirty years ago. Despite its Bernie Madoff storyline it feels old fashioned.
For the most part it’s rescued by the chemistry of the cast who bring some much needed fun to this preposterous story.
Of the ensemble Michael Pena and Gabourey Sidibe are the standouts. Pena has great comic timing and perpetual dazed look on his face and Sidibe shows that she can do something other than the ennui of “Precious.”
Also interesting is watching Ben Stiller as the straight man to Murphy’s wisecracks. The movie definitely picks up when Murphy is on screen. Loved hearing Murphyisms like, “I will blow your face clean off your face!”
Despite the cast, however, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that the actual robbery, despite a few twists here and there was completely unbelievable. I don’t mind suspending part of my disbelief but the sheer lunacy of the crime took me out of the movie.
Daddy Day Camp is the sort-of sequel to Daddy Day Care, a 2003 hit starring Eddie Murphy and Jeff Garlin as two stay-at-home fathers who open a day care in their house. This time out the expensive talent has been replaced by second stringers Cuba Gooding Jr. and generic heavy-set guy Paul Rae as the two dads who try and expand their business to include a run-down day camp where they want to teach kids the importance of co-operation and sportsmanship, among other things.
I’m not going to review this movie, but instead give you a list of things that are more enjoyable than sitting through Daddy Day Camp.
Here we go:
1. Cutting an apple in half and watching it turn brown.
2. Watching colonoscopy videos.
3. Poking sharp sticks in your eyes.
4. Eating bugs.
5. Latrine duty.
In closing I’ll add that the best thing that can be said about Daddy Day Camp is: At least it ain’t Rush Hour 3.
Simon Cowell got it wrong. When Jennifer Hudson was voted off American Idol a few years ago he told her that she was finished. Washed up. That she would likely never work again.
He was wrong.
Hudson is back and gives seasoned vets Jamie Foxx and Beyonce a run for their money as Effie, the castaway Dreamgirl in the big screen adaptation of the Broadway hit. There is Oscar buzz about her performance and she has already earned a Golden Globe nomination.
The story of Dreamgirls is a thinly veiled retelling of the Svengali-like managerial style of Motown boss Berry Gordy and the rise to success and subsequent solo career of Diana Ross and the Supremes under his supervision. Gordy replaced original Supremes lead singer Florence Ballard with the thinner and prettier Ross, exiling Ballard from the group she created. Ballard died in 1976 at age 32 after a long battle with depression and drugs. Only the names and minor details have been changed.
In the fast-paced Dreamgirls version of the story Foxx is Curtis Taylor Jr., a Cadillac salesman turned wannabe music impresario who bounces Effie (Hudson) as lead singer of the Dreams in favor of backup singer Deena Jones (Beyonce). Effie struggles with the betrayal and tries to re-ignite her career while toiling in the shadow of her former band mate and friend.
It’s an all-star cast with Jamie Foxx and Beyonce at the top of the marquee, but it is two of the supporting players who really shine—one newcomer and one veteran.
Eddie Murphy gives the kind of performance here that he has only ever hinted at in other films. As R&B singer James “Thunder” Early—imagine 1966 era James Brown—he blows the doors off, digging deep and creating a memorable character who is as magnetic as he is repulsive.
But the real star of the show is Jennifer Hudson. She brings not only a roof-rattling voice to Effie’s character but also equal measures of sass, dignity, and strength. It’s probably too soon to say this, but Effie just might be the role of a lifetime for Hudson.
Fans of musical theatre have seen some of their favorites—Phantom of the Opera and The Producers come to mind—botched on their way to the screen but Dreamgirls should satisfy even the toughest critics. I think even Simon Cowell might like it.
What do spiritual gurus and comedy have in common? More than you might think.
Deepak Chopra, possibly the world’s most famous guru, says, “When your soul responds to the paradox of our existence, to the contradictions of our existence, to the fact that wherever there is joy there is suffering, when your soul recognizes this, it can do nothing except laugh.”
In other words, chuckle — it’s good for your soul.
These are words to live by, particularly if you are Eddie Murphy in A Thousand Words, opening this weekend. In this comedy, Murphy plays a shady literary agent who cheats a spiritual guru in a business deal.
His punishment teaches him the value of every word that comes out of his mouth.
A Thousand Words isn’t the first comedy to go gaga for gurus.
In the 1968 counter-culture hit I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!, Peter Sellers plays a 30-something who visits a maharishi for enlightenment. “You will know yourself when you stop trying,” he is told. “I’m trying to stop trying,” Sellers replies.
A year later came The Guru, a movie that echoed the real-life musical journey of Beatle George Harrison’s internship with Ravi Shankar. Michael York starred as a famous British rock ‘n’ roller who travels from London to Bombay to study sitar at the feet of guru Ustad Zafar Khan.
Director James Ivory (who along with producer Ismail Merchant would go on to make Howard’s End and The Remains of the Day) called The Guru “the most unseen and mysterious of our movies … Merchant Ivory’s version of a ‘60s trip.”
Sharing a title is the 2002 Jimi Mistry film about a young Indian man who moves to New York with dreams of becoming an actor but instead becomes a sex guru who doles out catchphrases such as, “the most powerful sexual organ is your brain.”
In The Love Guru, Mike Myers mixed gross-out humour with spiritualism, a combo that proved toxic for both audiences and critics.
Even Mike’s own guru agreed it flopped.
“Humour mixed with spirituality can work, if it’s done well,” Deepak Chopra, who has a cameo in the film, said. “But frankly speaking, this was not a good attempt.”
So what exactly do gurus and comedy have in common? Myers says he learned from Chopra that “ha ha” is related to “ah ha,” the sound one makes upon the realization of truth.” Maybe it’s that simple.
Ben Affleck did it. So did Eddie Murphy and Charlie Chaplin. Heck, Alec Guinness did it eight times, including once as a woman.
This weekend in Jack and Jill, Adam Sandler adds his name to the list of actors who have played multiple roles in the same film.
“In Jack and Jill I play me,” says Sandler, “and I play my twin sister. The man version of me is doing OK; he has a family out in L.A. The twin-sister version of me lives out in the Bronx and comes out to L.A. for Thanksgiving and then refuses to leave.”
The idea of playing more than one role in a movie dates back to the Mary Pickford 1918 weepy Stella Maris.
In it she plays the wealthy title character and the uneducated orphan Unity Blake. The studio balked at her insistence on playing both roles, but Pickford insisted.
As Stella she was photographed like a glamorous movie star, but as Unity she wore unflattering makeup and was shot from her right, less photogenic, side. Scenes where the two characters shared the screen were achieved through double exposure.
Since then everyone from Mel Brooks (he was President Skroob and Yogurt in Spaceballs), to David Carradine (remember him in Circle of Iron as The Blind Man, Monkeyman, Death, and Changsha?) to Peter Sellers (who played as Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, President Merkin Muffley, and Dr. Strangelove in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) have taken on multi-roles.
Perhaps because of their sketch comedy backgrounds, Eddie Murphy and Mike Myers often take on various roles in their films, but Alec Guinness, the actor best known in North America as Jedi knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, must hold the record for character changes in one feature-length movie. In Kind Hearts and Coronets he plays no less than eight characters. In an acting tour de force he’s easily recognizable in each part, but doesn’t repeat himself from character to character. Instead he carefully constructs each, from the happy-go-lucky young photographer to the window-smashing suffragette Lady Agatha.
Rivaling Guinness’s achievement is Buster Keaton who played every part — including a stagehand, a dance troupe, a full band and every member in the audience — in the 1921 short film The Play House.
To top it off he also took credit for every crew job including editor, director, writer and cameraman.
Eddie Muphy’s cinematic nadir in Norbit may have cost him an Oscar for Dreamgirls, columnist Richard Crouse says.
Eddie Murphy infuriates me. It hasn’t always been that way. Twenty years ago his movies put a broad grin on my face. I loved his silly giggle in Beverly Hills Cop, his version of Greatest Love of All in Coming to America, and the “My mother was like Clint Eastwood with a shoe…” routine from Delirious is one of the funniest monologues ever, but that was when Eddie and I were both much younger.
Now an Eddie Murphy movie is as welcome as a case of gingivitis. That makes me angry. He may be the biggest, most talented star in Hollywood who consistently makes the worst movies. Don’t get me wrong, nobody hits a home run every time, but Murphy’s recent batting average is worse than most.
He’s never been consistent, but in the old days for every stinker like Vampire in Brooklyn he’d make two others that were drop dead funny. Of late though, he’s been stuck in Vampire in Brooklyn mode, trying to suck laughs out of increasingly thin scripts.
Let’s look at the good, the bad and the ugly on Murphy’s filmography.
The good: In Dreamgirls Murphy gives the kind of performance that he’s only hinted at in other films. As R&B singer James (Thunder) Early — imagine 1966-era James Brown — he blows the doors off, digging deep and creating a memorable character who is as magnetic as he is repulsive.
The bad: Haunted Mansion. It’s a comedy! No! It’s a mystery! Nope, it’s a love story, a ghostly tale and an adventure story. It’s all of those things and less. Mostly it’s a big screen ad for a Disney theme park ride.
The ugly: With so many to choose from — Meet Dave, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, for example — it’s hard to decide but I’ll pick Norbit because it’s the movie that cost Eddie his Oscar. He was nominated for Dreamgirls but had the misfortune to have Norbit open in theatres the week Academy voters were casting their ballots. Any goodwill he accumulated with Dreamgirls evaporated when Oscar tastemakers got a load of him dressed as an aggressive 300 pound woman and the award went elsewhere.
The worst part is, I think he knows the movies stink. He recently told Extra “I have close to fifty movies and it’s like, why am I in the movies? I’ve done that part now.”
By Richard Crouse – Metro Canada
