Saturday
Feb282009
Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 1:20AM Eddie Murphy's Pryor Experience
Eddie Murphy will get one more shot at redemption, though I can't
for the life of me figure out why he deserves it, when he portrays his idol, Richard
Pryor, in the upcoming bio-pic, Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said?
Reader Comments (8)
Ok Colin, two things. First off, you hate Eddie Murphy and think the man is a worthl the For reess human being WE GET IT! We GET it!
How old are you anyway, 17? What did Murphy do to you. Did he steal your credit info? Did he date your mother and leave her?
The bottom line is this. I dont' condone Eddie leaving the Oscars like he did Glthe swhen he lost, but he should have won that award. Yes he was a poor sport, but Alan Arkin got the token old man award and strung Eddie along like he was second fiddle.
Not for anything, but what did Alan Arkin do in Little Miss Sunshine. He played a cantankerous old man in the back of a 1984 GMC van. Hasn't he had played this role in other movies? The Arkin victory came as a big surprise since Eddie won the Gguythe olden globe and SAG Award.
It worked for Julia Roberts, why not Eddie Murphy?
And how does the guy not deserve it? Pryor is the reason Eddie Murphy did stand up. Just like Johnny Carson inspired a beleagured small town kid from Indiana named David Letterman. It's ever thus, aint it. Jim Carrey was influenced greatly by Andy Kaufman. He looked nothing like the man , but Jim hit it out of the park, though Man on The Moon wasn't a good movie, the performance was wonderful. BTW, Mr. Carrey called the Academy "bastards" on Conan O'Brien as a result of the infamous Truman Show snub. The Academy made an example out of him and blew him off like a prom date for MOTM. No one said "He doesn't deserve a shot at redemption". Murphy doesn't need the approval of the Academy. He needs another hit movie. One that doesn't have him in a family role or dealing with kids or fat suits. He owned the box office in the 80s. And yes, hes made some of the worst movies ever known to man. Yes he's been involved in scandal and some weird stuff. So has Errol Flynn, Tom Cruise, Harry Belafonte, Robert Downey Jr. and countless other celebrities.
But he's still talented, and he's still going to, whether you like it or not, get to pay homage to his mentor, idol, and friend. Yes, Harlem Nights didn't make Pryor an Eddie murphy fan but so what. There's more in life than rifts over a shitty movie, especially since Murphy had good intentions.
Off the record, You sound like a bitter little ass. Why don't you grow up!
Mike -
Let me compare Murphy to someone: Stephon Marbury. Both guys showed immense talent, but like Murphy, when Starbury got paid, he got lazy. He imploded the Minnesota Timberwolves, New Jersey Nets, Phoenix Suns, and New York Knicks. He was such a locker room cancer the Knicks paid him about $20 million to not play or show up at practice.
Then last night, I happened to catch Marbury on SportsCenter, playing for the Boston Celtics. So, here's a guy who was never interested in winning, only wanted money, didn't care what happened to the team, his teammates, or the fans as long as his check cleared, and now he has a shot at winning a championship. Huh? He was handed a golden opportunity after not taking advantage of the one he was already given.
Eddie Murphy: Great comedic talent. Some very good movies and characters up through 1999. I think his work in Bowfinger is sensational, because he was two distinct characters, and the only change he made was putting on glasses. And then, I don't know what happened.
But his movies stunk, he made $70 million for the quartet of Pluto Nash, Shrek 2, The Klumps, and Nutty Professor II. That's right: $20 million for Pluto Nash, a movie that earned less than a third of that at the box office.
He didn't care about the quality, just his quantity. Therefore, the movies became unwatchable and Murphy became unbearable. Did you see The Haunted Mansion, Pluto Nash, Showtime, Norbit, Daddy Day Care, and Meet Dave? I did. He chose to make all of them, wasting his talent for cash.
And that's fine. Just don't ask us to appreciate the talent later on when nobody's offering you the cash anymore.
Why should Murphy have won the Oscar two years ago? His character in Dreamworks is completely tangential to the story and frankly, he was the fourth best performance. Should he have won over Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children? Over Djimon Hounsou in Blood Diamond? Wow...that's asking a lot for a guy who's taking a back seat in all but one scene in his own movie.
The other comparisons - Jim Carrey, David Letterman - don't really qualify the argument. Jim Carrey was still on the upswing of his career when Man on the Moon came out. It wasn't until The Majestic that people stopped watching. Letterman was and is still the best late night host on network TV, and certainly never did the equivalent of Daddy Day Care on TV.
The question isn't if somebody inspired them. The question is, should we look when Eddie Murphy's career cries wolf again after all this time? He had a chance to take himself seriously and have the industry take him seriously with Dreamgirls. He received a nomination, lost, walked out like a bitch, and made Meet Dave. Then he skipped the premiere for that movie because he knew it was garbage. He's had his chances for 25 years. I'd rather see Mike Epps play Richard Pryor.
I was wondering why the Academy let Murphy back in the door to present to Jerry Lewis, now with the connection to Condon I know why.
Ugh.
It's my opinion that Eddie is haunted by somthing Bill Cosby said to him years ago about his children viewing his raunchy standup once they became old enough to do so, and how ashamed he and they would be. So for the sake of the kids he made most of the choices in films that some decribe as unwatchable. Eddie doesn't seem to really need the money. Blame the films on the kids. As they get older the work will get better. It maybe that the time is now,
Eddie had other duties on that award night. He took his seat from the seat filler at the appropriate time, and then he left his seat when he was no longer needed there, to do whatever. Some AH spun that into a case of bad sportsmanship and you so and sos have been running with that ever since. Give it a rest.
Aren't The Klumps AND Nutty Professor 2 the same movie?
Yes. I meant the second Dr. Doolittle instead of...uh...one of them. It's interesting that you point out that Murphy had somewhere else to be on Oscar night and the Bill Cosby thing. About two months ago, Cosby said that conversation never happened. But people have been running with it ever since.
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