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+
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