Eddie Murphy names the four best movies he’s made: “It’d be easier to name my four worst”
In theory, asking Eddie Murphy to name the greatest movies of his career should be a relatively straightforward exercise, if only for the fact that he’s made so many terrible ones, which he’ll gladly shit all over anytime the opportunity presents itself.
Fortunately, the former Saturday Night Live favourite is self-aware enough to know that, after admitting it would have been a much easier task had he been asked to list his worst offenders instead. Then again, would it really be as simple? After all, he’s blasted his own back catalogue more than most.
Among the many star vehicles he’d lambasted over the years are the dismal Holy Man, which he called “horrendous,” and an early paycheque gig in Best Defence, which he summarised as “the worst movie ever done in the history of anything,” and that’s merely the tip of an iceberg comprised of crap.
The second and third instalments in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise? “Garbage.” The Adventures of Pluto Nash? “That breaks me all the way down.” Meet Dave? “Horrible.” Another 48 Hrs.? “I was depressed at how I looked in that film.” Harlem Nights? “I didn’t dig it, and I hated doing it.”
That’s eight of his own movies that Murphy can’t stand, and that doesn’t include the atrocious films that he neglected to mention, like Daddy Day Care, The Haunted Mansion, I Spy, or A Thousand Words. Not Norbit, though, because he’s about the only person on the planet willing to defend it.
With that in mind, maybe it wouldn’t be as easy as he thought for Murphy to name his four worst affronts against the good name of cinema, but he didn’t have to. Instead, he was quizzed on which four features would make up a Mount Rushmore comprised entirely of Eddie Murphy heads, and it required some deliberation.
“Coming to America. The Nutty Professor. Shrek,” he pondered. “It’s like a bunch of joints. If I say 48 Hrs., I can’t say Trading Places. Coming to America. Shrek. Nutty Professor. 48 Hrs.” That seemed surprisingly simple, so Murphy decided to change his mind at the last second and sacrifice one of the quartet.
“I’ll take 48 Hrs. off and put Dreamgirls on,” he explained. “48 Hrs. is really good. But Dreamgirls, everybody can enjoy. But 48 Hrs. is a guy movie. I got a lot of joints that worked. It’d be easier to name my four worst movies.” As detailed above, it probably wouldn’t have been, but some big titles were omitted nonetheless.
There was no room for John Landis’ Trading Places, 48 Hrs. was replaced by Dreamgirls, despite ushering in the age of the odd-couple buddy cop action comedy, his debut in Axel Foley was left out, even though it was the movie that made him a Hollywood superstar in the first place, while Dolemite Is My Name arguably features his best-ever work as an on-camera performer. If he had to choose which one would take pride of place, though, an educated guess would be The Nutty Professor.
Eddie Murphy’s four favourite Eddie Murphy movies:
- Coming to America (John Landis, 1988)
- The Nutty Professor (Tom Shadyac, 1996)
- Shrek (Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, 2001)
- Dreamgirls (Bill Condon, 2006)
