If you looked at some of the films that Eddie Murphy has been in over the past decade then you'll soon forget that Murphy used to be funny. And even if he wasn't completely funny in his best movies then at least he was entertaining. So, I've taken it upon myself to rank his ten best movies. Actually, these are more like the only ten Eddie Murphy movies that are really worth watching unless the never ending slew of kiddie movies Murphy has made as of late are your cup of tea.
- RAW (1987) - Yeah, I'm including this as a movie. It's great stand-up. Maybe I should have listed Mulan, but I promised myself to keep the kid stuff to a minimum.
- Beverly Hills Cop (1984) - A classic Murphy film. See it if you need to get the taste of The Adventures of Pluto Nash out of your mouth.
- Trading Places (1983) - Another classic that should not be missed.
- 48 Hrs. (1982) - Eddie Murphy's Lethal Weapon and sort of a segue to the Beverly Hills Cop movies. It was also his first movie.
- Coming to America (1988) - Prince Akeem comes to Queens, New York to look for a queen. Clever, huh? Add the voice of Darth Vader and Arsenio Hall and you have an 80's classic.
- Bowfinger (1999) - Steve Martin and Murphy team up for the first time and make a very good movie about making movies. It's stupid but funny. I wish I could say the same about Norbit.
- Shrek (2001) - A great movie. Eddie Murphy pretty much leeched on to the success of this movie (and Mike Myers did the same) and he's done virtually nothing of note since (except for Shrek sequels), but this movie is really good and I guess I can't blame him for getting all he could out of Donkey. Just like he did with Axel Foley and Dr. Doolittle.
- Life (1999) - This movie is pretty decent. It is about two buddies who get charged with a crime they did not commit and have to spend life in prison. This movie also features the second pairing of Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. The first time they were in a movie together was for 1992's Boomerang, a perfectly "bleh" movie.
- Shrek II (2004) - The only Shrek sequel that is sort of funny and still kind of original.
- Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) - More of the same, but it is entertaining and it is much better than the crappy third installment.
Eddie really pisses me off because he is so talented and he does these lame half-assed movies. What causes this is the quest for cash. He is at his best when he is doing edgy comedy but in order to make big box office, he compromises and tries to make stuff for all audiences. "Selling Out" in other words. Does he even read some of the scripts first?
ReplyDeleteOne of my all-time favorite Eddie bits was on Saturday Night live when he did an impression of James Brown getting in a hot tub. If you can find that anywhere, watch it. I think SNL keeps all their clips off of youtube but it's probably out there somewhere.