Review: The Adventures of Pluto Nash

A presumably well-paid Eddie Murphy is the title smuggler turned nightclub owner on the moon (!) in the year 2087, who takes on a mysterious rich mob boss (whose identity results in one of the least interesting ‘surprise!’ twists/revelations ever) who wants to muscle in on Pluto’s territory and buy the club. Pluto won’t budge, so some goons are sent after him, his loyal (but temperamental) robot bodyguard Randy Quaid (!), and his newest employee Rosario Dawson. Jay Mohr plays Murphy’s somewhat unscrupulous buddy, a horrendously confused lounge singer named Tony Francis whom Pluto once rescued from being whacked by goon Burt Young. Peter Boyle plays an old buddy, and John Cleese and Pam Grier are wasted as an irritable hologram chauffeur, and Pluto’s arse-kickin’ mother, respectively. Luis Guzman is likeable as an intergalactic thief who hero-worships former rogue Pluto.

2002 Ron Underwood (the underrated “Heart and Souls”, the popular “City Slickers” and the overpraised cult film “Tremors”) space comedy was a notorious flop (staggeringly poor box-office, and with its high budget, resulting in a loss of almost $100 million!), and yes is a pretty bad, unfunny film. But I must say, there was potential here with the setting, the cast, and an excellent production design by Bill Brzeski. If only there were some actual laughs in it instead of a bunch of stillborn gags. Or perhaps, it could’ve worked as a straight-up sci-fi film, even (the film does turn into a bit of a tepid sci-fi actioner at times). Of the cast, Randy Quaid (struggling valiantly in a terrible role) and the charismatic Dawson fare best, though Mohr isn’t too awful. Murphy doesn’t even seem to be trying to be funny (he never makes his own stamp on the role), and the others in the cast aren’t around too much to warrant a mention, though it’s always nice to see Grier working.

It’s not quite “Leonard Part 6” (or “Ghost Dad” for that matter), but it’s still pretty flat, all-too indicative of the sorry state of Murphy’s career in recent years (not that his earlier films were all great. His vanity project “Harlem Nights” comes to mind). It really saddens me to think that there’s a whole generation of people out there who aren’t old enough to remember a time when Eddie Murphy was actually funny. He was hilarious, daring, and dangerous (Just look at his work as a stand-up, or on “SNL”). He even made some very good (“Trading Places”, “48 HRS”) or great (“Beverly Hills Cop”, “Coming to America”) comedies. The only decent (comedy) he’s made outside of the Shrek series, since 1990 has been the clever “Bowfinger”. “Daddy Day Care” was harmless and pleasant, but Eddie Murphy ain’t meant to be harmless and pleasant, and it’s a true tragedy to see his career relegated to stupid family comedies and big-time flops. Astonishingly written back in 1985 (!), the screenplay is by Neil Cuthbert (“Hocus Pocus”, anyone?) with about a dozen others (!!) working on it, none of the others are credited, however (lucky for them!). The cast and director ought to have resulted in a much better film than this galactic misfire.

Rating: D+