From resurgence to instant mediocrity: how Eddie Murphy botched his own renaissance
Rises don’t come much more meteoric than the one afforded to Eddie Murphy in the 1980s when he rapidly evolved from Saturday Night Live mainstay to cinematic superstar in no time at all.
The actor and comedian made his feature debut in Walter Hill’s 48 Hrs., which earned him a Golden Globe nomination and recouped its budget almost seven times over at the box office. In addition, it gained a reputation for being the genesis of the standard odd couple buddy cop action comedy that would quickly become an industry staple.
His sophomore outing in classic comedy Trading Places earned him another Golden Globe nomination and became an even bigger hit at the box office. After the misstep of Best Defense, his fourth time being credited in a film landed him yet another Golden Globe nod, with Beverly Hills Cop ending its theatrical run as the highest-grossing release of 1984 in the United States.
He was a made man after that, but the longer Murphy kept plying his trade in a string of broad comedies, the quicker the law of diminishing returns set in. The star admitted that the reason he took an extended sabbatical from Hollywood is because he kept making so many shitty movies that had a habit of being torn apart by anyone unfortunate enough to see them, which wasn’t a whole lot of people considering so many of them tanked at the box office.
Sure, he earned his first Academy Award nomination for Dreamgirls and was considered the hot favourite to win until Little Miss Sunshine‘s Alan Arkin pulled off an upset victory, but he also accrued six wins from 15 Golden Raspberry Award nods, including ‘Worst Actor of the Decade’ for the whole of the 2010s.
Something needed to change, and when Murphy’s first motion picture in three years and only his second in the previous seven hit Netflix in October 2019, it had all the makings of ushering in a brand new era. Arguably the greatest performance of his career, Dolemite Is My Name found the leading man on incendiary form, with a brashly confident and charismatic turn that placed his tired shtick firmly to one side in favour of allowing his undimmed star power and screen presence to shine through.
By all accounts, those are the parts he should have continued chasing, but it didn’t take long to revert to type. It’s a head-scratcher that a performer who came clean and conceded they’d spent too long chasing the easiest paycheque by taking on roles that hardly required a jaunt outside their familiar wheelhouse gained the best notices they’d seen in over a decade and decided the next port of call was to reheat, not reset.
His next project was the comedy sequel Coming 2 America, and while Prime Video touted it as the most-watched premiere in the streaming service’s history, the obfuscation of on-demand data ensured that was an empty accolade. Not only that, but it wasn’t a patch on its predecessor, with Murphy more than happy to simply repeat what had worked before instead of trying something new.
Netflix’s You People was another misstep that quickly faded from memory. Murphy went through the motions as a beleaguered father before it was back to Prime Video for Candy Cane Lane, which doesn’t stand a chance of entering the pantheon of eminently rewatchable festive comedies. After that, it was back to Netflix once more, and with another legacy sequel in tow.
In all honesty, it doesn’t matter if Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is worth the 30-year wait or not because streaming-only blockbusters never manage to leave a lasting cultural imprint. Subscribers will watch it, and then in a couple of weeks, it’ll be onto the next shiny new release. It may have fared better on the big screen, but Murphy seems content to be a streaming guy now.
Post-Dolemite, reinvention was there for the taking. Murphy remains a beacon of charisma, and he’s proven his talents in the dramatic arena, but broadening his horizons evidently doesn’t appeal. Instead of striking while the iron was hotter than it had been in decades, he opted for a pair of legacy sequels and a pair of lazy comedies. Maybe he’s entirely unbothered by where he finds himself, but it stands out as a major missed opportunity.
