Meet Dave
Review
by Sean Lynch
At what stage of his career did it become a
contractual obligation that Eddie Murphy had to play more
than one character in every movie?
There
is such a thing as too
much of a good thing, and in Eddie's case - the
good thing seems to be giant bags of studio executive's cash, because
I'm literally about four seconds away from re-watching Dreamgirls
to see if Jennifer Hudson was actually in that flick or it was simply
Eddie in a wig.
It comes as no surprise that Meet Dave
has Eddie in... Eddie. That's right, we've always thought it, but now
it's on film: Eddie Murphy is full of himself... literally.
Meet
Dave begins after a
massive fireball from space hits New York's Central
Park and a seemingly ordinary man emerges unscathed.
The man turns out to be a
spaceship operated by 100 human-looking aliens who are a few
millimetres
tall and seeking a way to save their planet. However, things soon get complicated when their
ship becomes smitten with an Earth woman
(played by Scrubs'
Elizabeth Banks).
At
this point the film cues the "fish-out-of-water confusion" with the
various things humans encounter on Earth every day: cats, big
cities, walking, tomato sauce, pop culture, fashion and of course
love are all alien to Dave.
Now the biggest problem of Meet
Dave
isn't that the jokes are childish and lame, because they are meant to
be. The problem is that
the trailer and marketing lead us all to believe that a movie like Meet Dave isn't
aimed at four year olds.
And the simple fact is - it is
aimed at four year olds.
In
that regard, the latest 'G' friendly flick from Eddie is a complete
success. It's the sort of kids movie they used to churn out ad nauseum
in the late '80s and early '90s. In a pre-Shrek era where
kids movies were made solely for the minors without the
'Over-Their-Heads-Jokes-For-The Parents'.
That said, there are going to be a lot of disappointed adult movie
goers expecting the "comedy" supplied in Norbit or
Nutty
Professor, who are likely to leave the cinema feeling more
cheated than they did after forking out to see the debacle that was The
Happening.
There
simply aren't enough good adult or teen laughs delivered here
(besides the odd Google or Bee Gees gag) to deliver a truly enjoyable
family film.
Had the audience
range been broadened even slightly director Brian Robbins might have
had a hit on his hands, because there is quite a lot of potential in
this good, if not slightly over-used and oddly familiar, premise.
Murphy
is somewhat (and purposely) underused, only occasionally allowing his
true comic potential to seep through. Even for a kids movie he never
quite comes off as likable enough
in the same way
Arnold Schwarzenegger or Robin Williams have succeeded in similar
robotic
"Love... What is this Love?" sort of roles. Add to that the fact there
seems to be a lack of chemistry between all involved, and
you're left with a kids film which gives off a rather cold vibe to what
should be undeniably heartwarming.
The intentions are good and had Meet
Dave
not had the hefty budget or big name cast, this plays out as a
perfectly serviceable straight-to-DVD flick for the littlies.
But
for those of us not (still) obsessed with 'The Wiggles' and making our
movie-going decisions based purely on the trailer and synopsis, Meet Dave is
pretty underwhelming.
Surely we are due for something a little more Beverley Hills Cop
and a little less Doolittle
sometime soon.
2.5 out
of 5
Meet Dave
Australian release: 17th July,
2008
Official
Site: Meet Dave
Cast: Eddie Murphy, Elizabeth
Banks, Gabrielle Union, Ed Helms
Director: Brian Robbins
|
