The worst thing that happened to Eddie Murphy might have been a script. When left to his own devices, Murphy is as brilliant a comedian as there is on the planet, finding innumerable methods to make the audience laugh. At its core then, Murphy is selling himself, which is probably what attracted him to do Dolemite Is My Name. Rudy Ray Moore, the subject of the film is also a pitchmaster who gives the people what they want. Murphy and Craig Brewer do their best to remind everyone how impressively motivated this dreamer was. And you know, to get Wesley Snipes back onscreen.
We first meet Moore (Murphy) struggling in Los Angeles. He MC’s at a club, but can’t get his career off the ground. Inspired by a local homeless man, Moore starts donning a character on stage, Dolemite, a foul mouthed rhyming comedian. Dolemite almost immediately becomes a hit, allowing Moore to make and sell comedy records. Rudy, now obsessed with making people laugh, realizes that the “comedies” out in theatres are only for white people. So he sets out transforming his act into a movie, even though he has no idea how to finance, promote, write, or direct, a movie.
Craig Brewer elevates every movie he directs; he somehow made a better version of Footlose than the original as his last film. As a lover of cinema, Brewer did his research on Blaxsploitation films, of which Rudy was a director. Dolemite Is My Name is almost a meta version of a Blaxsploitation film, The cast gets to wear exsquite colorful costumes that are period specific but would be what characters in Blaxsploitation would wear. The score of the film is this killer funk soundtrack that was just the music of the time. And most importantly, the script plays out like one of the heroes of one of these films: a person fighting to overcome the powers that be to get his or her justice. It’s downright inspirational to watch Rudy Ray get denied over and over again, and yet he persists, finding clever innovative ways to achieve his goals. Brewer and the writers also show how this isn’t narcissism. Rudy Ray Moore really wanted to make something that wasn’t being made before, and get people like the big beautiful Lady Reed (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) onscreen because there had never been anyone like her in a movie before. Brewer and the writers have this undercurrent rise to the surface by the end of the movie, with one of the more lovely payoffs to end a film this year.
It also helps everyone involved in Dolemite to have Eddie Murphy playing a pitch man for comedy and movies. No ones better at delivering a joke than that guy. I’m almost certain all the funny material Rudy Ray Moore does on stage was just improvised by Murphy, who makes the man funny and also perceptive/endearing. In between swashbuckling, Murphy even shows his acting chops when he has to be vulnerable or beaten down, and connect with other characters, a testament to his growth as an all around performer. Backing Murphy up is an intimidatingly good cast of African American funny people, some who come in and nail their 1-2 scenes (hey Chris Rock!), some who are new talents (Da’Vine Joy Randolph is great), and some reminding you how awesome they are (pay your taxes this time, Wesley Snipes!). I’m pretty sure all of them willingly agreed to be part of this movie hoping, like I was, that Eddie Murphy was gonna do something amazing, which he does. Over and over again.
Like The Disaster Artist, Dolemite Is My Name is a Hollywood biopic that looks beyond the quality of the movie being made. It’s about someone’s desire to create and connect with others. And thanks to Craig Brewer and mostly Eddie Murphy, everyone will end Dolemite Is My Name thinking the title should have an exclamation point at the end, and leave us all excited to talk about it with everyone; to forge a new connection.