The movie that brought Eddie Murphy down with a bump: “I just don’t have any use for critics”
Eddie Murphy was a household name by the time he was of legal age to drink. At just 19 years old, he had made enough of an impression on the stand-up comedy circuit in New York that Saturday Night Live took a shot.
It was a shot worth taking, too. SNL was on a downward run as the intial furore of the late night sketch show had begun to subside and the original cast members find fame elsewhere. murphy would be an electrifying jolt that enraptured a new generation with his whipsmart comedy.
But, like so many other SNL alumni, Murphy would soon have his sights set on Hollywood and become a global star within a few years. Two movies would be pivotal in that launch into the stratosphere. 1983’s Trading Places helped to gather more column inches for Murphy than he had ever had before. But it was the giant hit Beverly Hills Cop, in which Murphy starred as Detective Axel Foley, that would truly transform his life.
1984 would see the release of the movie and Murphy’s subsequent resignation from SNL. For the young man, still only 23 at the time, it seemed that he had officially made it. There was no point looking backward, now was the time to hoist his chin into the air and set course for the stars. But in what might be the most accurate depiction of Hollywood you might hope to see, as soon as Murphy began dreaming of headier heights, the critics went after him.
The Golden Child was savaged by those in the journalistic arm of the movie industry. “It will do,” said Roger Ebert when noting just how much excitement surrounded the release following his explosive moment just two years prior. But other reviews were not so kind. The New York Times Janet Maslin went so far as to call the picture “comedy without laughs” in what might be one of the more devastating putdowns Murphy has faced in his career.
However, the star simply batted the reviews away. Instead, it gave him resolve as he pointed to the movie’s ability to draw a crowd as a more reasonable reflection of the picture: “Well, they really came down on Golden Child. But you know who my critics are? The audience. They came out and spent $70 million to see Golden Child. So what do the critics know?” He explained in Interview Magazine.
For a comedian who found his first taste of fame on the stage of smoky comedy clubs in the backstreets of New York, it’s expected that he wouldn’t care one jot what critics thought. For Murphy, it was all about the laughs: “It’s the way the audience reacts that matters. I just don’t have any use for critics. They just sit back and tell you that what you do is wrong.”
Is Eddie Murphy correct in this instance? No. The Golden Child is certainly not one of his best movies. But is he correct in general? Of course. Making people laugh en masse has always been more important than making some crotchety critic chuckle.
