You might not have noticed, but Eddie Murphy has a new movie in theaters today. That’s a slightly loaded sentence: “A Thousand Words” was shot four years ago, has been barely screened for critics (those who have seen it have been vicious), and is being put into a mere 1900 theaters, nearly half as much as the week’s biggest opening, “John Carter.” And all this for a man who was once the brightest star on the planet.
But thanks to a string of bad movies (including bona-fide disasters such as “The Adventures of Pluto Nash,” “Imagine That” and “Meet Dave“), Murphy is no longer a safe bet, and the kind of family fare that has been his bread and butter, and that turned off many of his fans, is now given token releases such as this.
But it hasn’t always been this way. Once upon a time, Murphy was a comic hurricane, one of the most exciting new movie stars going, and with “A Thousand Words” being ignored in theaters this weekend, it seemed like a good opportunity to have a look at why we fell in love with Murphy in the first place. Below, we’ve picked out five key Murphy performances from across his career. While we’re not holding our breath for an uptick, he has got a promising project on his slate, a biopic of Washington mayor Marion Barry for HBO with Spike Lee, so maybe, just maybe, we’ll end up with more parts worthy of his talents in the years to come. Read our selection below, and weigh in yourselves as to your favorite Murphy turn.
“48 Hrs.” (1982)
It’s amazing to think that “48 Hrs.” was not only Eddie Murphy‘s first starring role, but his first screen appearance full stop. Indeed, the actor was only 21 at the time, and had only broken out on “Saturday Night Live” the previous year. But as potty-mouthed, wisecracking con Reggie in Walter Hill‘s action-comedy “48 Hrs.,” bailed out by Nick Nolte‘s grizzled, borderline racist cop Jack, he looks like he’s been leading movies since the day he was born. He’s got a natural swagger, a comic timing unlike anyone else around at the time, and, like Hill’s film as a whole, feels genuinely dangerous — this might have been the first buddy action-comedy, but few since have managed the balance of laugh and genuine stakes as well. The film was originally intended for Clint Eastwood and Richard Pryor, but you can’t quite imagine that pair having the same friction and the same chemistry, which means, as you’d expect, when the two come to respect each other, it feels genuinely earned. Murphy would go on to refine this sort of performance, but it’s pretty sterling as far as debuts go.
“Trading Places” (1983)
Arguably the finest film of Murphy’s career to date came a mere six months after his debut, and cemented his place as a fully-fledged movie star. It’s not exactly a stretch, though: again, he’s playing a hustler, this time Billy Ray Valentine, who’s elevated to wealth and privilege by two scheming brokers (Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche) after he crosses paths with their spoiled protege Louis Winthorpe III (a never-better Dan Aykroyd). John Landis‘ film is one of those rare mainstream comedies that works across the board, with a sweetness, crudeness, and romance all working well, and even a firmly of-the-moment political undercurrent. But the real firecracker is Murphy, who kills it, remaining consistently hilarious throughout. “48 Hrs.” made him a star, but “Trading Places” made him a phenomenon.