DECEMBER 23, 2019
Watching Eddie Murphy’s brilliant hosting job this past weekend on “Saturday Night Live,” I was reminded his great return to movies this fall in the comedy “Dolemite Is My Name,” truly one of the funniest films of 2019. Then I was shocked to realize that, as much as I liked the film, I never actually got around to reviewing it for ECT. So let me be the very last on the block to urge you to see it, whether in theaters or now on Netflix.
“Dolemite Is My Name” is one of the few screen biographies in history that’s actually funny yet remains true to the life of its subject. That subject is comedian Rudy Ray Moore (Murphy) whose comedy career in the early 1970s is definitely on the down side. At his part-time job at a record store, Rudy encounters a homeless man who tells tales of a street character named “Dolemite.” Rudy gets the idea to create a new stage character named Dolomite, so, dressed up in a pimp’s outfit complete with cane, Rudy tells these stories on stage and absolutely kills.
The response is so great that Rudy implores his friend Jimmy Lynch (Mike Epps) to record him in front of a live audience. The resulting LP, titled “Eat Out More Often,” is sold out of the trunk of Rudy’s car and becomes a huge underground success. The record is noticed by one record company that agrees to sell it, so Rudy takes a barnstorming tour throughout the South, fast-talking his way into getting attention to the LP, since it’s so dirty that it can’t be played on the radio. The charming huckster is so in Murphy’s wheelhouse that it’s a joy to see him once again at the top of his game.
The film really takes off as Rudy and his posse, including single mother Lady Reed (Da’Vine Joy Randolph, terrific), sit in stone-faced silence at a screening of Billy Wilder’s “The Front Page” (1975) and become convinced that they could make a funnier comedy than that. Rudy has no idea how to make a movie, but that’s not going to stop him. How Rudy assembles his ramshackle team of filmmakers — including blaxploitation star D’Urville Martin (Wesley Snipes, welcome back!) who insists on directing; high-falutin’ playwright Jerry Jones (Keegan-Michael Key) who has no idea how to connect with this kind of material; and white film-school cinematographer Nicholas Josef von Sternberg (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who is convinced that “Dolemite” will be his big break.
It’s how this island of misfit toys comes together to try to make a blaxploitation masterpiece that is the meat of “Dolemite Is My Name,” and Murphy’s Rudy is the orchestra conductor. He knows nothing about how it’s done, but he knows what he wants and will try something…anything…to bring his vision to the screen. This may seem like an odd comparison, but “Dolemite Is My Name” has much the same spirit of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland’s old “Let’s put on a show!” spirit. And put on a show Rudy does.
Screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (who wrote about another one-of-a-kind filmmaker in their 1994 film “Ed Wood”) never lose the through-line of Rudy’s belief in himself, and their depiction of his “can-do” spirit becomes an unexpected tribute to his entrepreneurial drive. And director Craig Brewer (“Hustle & Flow”) blends his ensemble beautifully and creates an atmosphere that artfully evokes the colorful world of the 1970s.
Nothing captures that ’70’s vibe more than the costumes of Academy Award-winner Ruth E. Carter who may have outdone herself for “Dolemite.” (Just look at the photo above for these imaginative examples of her work.) Carter, who won her Oscar in February for her designs for “Black Panther,” is known to be meticulous about her costuming, and, apart from the wild colors, just look at how carefully put together the designs are. It’s great work that may just bring her another Oscar.
Still, “Dolemite Is My Name” would not be the film that it is without the work of Eddie Murphy, who offers his best screen performance in over a decade. In another actor’s hands, Rudy’s high self-esteem might look foolish, but because Murphy believes so strongly in Rudy’s determination, we believe it too. And the dramatic chops that Murphy showed in 2006’s “Dreamgirls” serve him well here, particularly in a touching final scene between Murphy and Randolph.
Without Eddie Murphy, “Dolemite Is My Name” might be just another throwaway comedy. With him, however, “Dolemite” becomes something special.
GRADE: B+
