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Eddie Murphy Movie

March 9, 2012 by · Comments Off on Eddie Murphy Movie 

Eddie Murphy Movie, Way back in November, the possibility still seemed real that Eddie Murphy could break out of movie jail. After starring in a long string of critically savaged films and some of the previous decade’s biggest flops, Murphy was set to appear in a splashy vehicle that, for a change, did not provoke howls of scorn from critics: the ensemble comedy Tower Heist, costarring Ben Stiller and directed by Brett Ratner.

It was to have been Murphy’s redemption, dovetailing synergistically with the Beverly Hills Cop star’s moment in the spotlight as host of the 2012 Oscars, also to be directed by Ratner.

Then, with astonishing speed, Murphy was effectively put back in Hollywood lockdown. In short order, Tower Heist fizzled, and Murphy quit the Academy Awards broadcast after Ratner was pressured to exit the Oscars (thanks to the outcry generated by the director’s comment that “rehearsal is for fags”).

Today, Murphy’s latest movie, A Thousand Words, arrives in theaters accompanied by some of the worst buzz of any film this decade, with pre-release “tracking” reports predicting it will flop spectacularly, perhaps not even placing among the top five grossing films in its opening three days of release.

Given the movie’s rollout on a relatively paltry 1,500 screens, the token marketing push by its distributor Paramount, and minimal press support from Murphy, the sentiment surrounding A Thousand Words seems to be the less said the better. The story of how the movie came to be shelved for nearly four years before becoming the latest evidence that Murphy’s career has gone ice cold is a comedy of errors shot through with Hollywood hubris, greed, and studio brinksmanship at its worst.

Hot off his 2007 Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for the musical drama Dreamgirls, Murphy signed on to A Thousand Words to portray a fast-talking literary agent who double-crosses a spiritual guru and is cursed; he can speak only 1,000 more words before dying an untimely death. The project, which reteamed Murphy with director Brian Robbins following their 2007 hit Norbit, would rise or fall on a simple principle: by not talking, Murphy’s character would get a freewheeling showcase for his exaggerated brand of comedic pantomime.

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