Dolemite is My Name (film): Wonderful return for Eddie Murphy

Eddie Murphy has thrown a series of stinker films at the world in the past decade. Some of them were so bad and poorly received / lost a ton of money that Hollywood and likely the general public forgot that this person was the biggest movie star for many years starting back in the 80's

Eddie took the hint and went underground having nothing to do with film-making for 3 years and then this pops up on the radar. Dolemite is My Name is a wonderful true-story that sees brilliant performances from both Murphy, and a great many others.

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_{in Portuguese just for fun}

If someone isn't familiar with the film that this movie is based around, I don't really think it would be all that detrimental to the overall experience because the movie stands on its own and perhaps the ending credits where it details what what you just watched is all about might be a pleasant surprise. The entire experience is basically describing the struggles that Rudy Ray Moore encountered in getting his film, Dolemite , which he stars in the main role, into theaters after a semi-successful career as a traveling stand-up comedian.

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The thing about the real Dolemite film is that it was actually a pretty terrible movie, and you don't have to watch it for very long to realize that the film-makers didn't really know what the hell they were doing. However, it was driven by a relentless artist (Rudy Ray Moore - played by Eddie Murphy) who refused to take no for an answer and was going to see this thing through no matter what.

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The original Dolemite film was the pinnacle of what is referred to as the "blaxploitation" period. These films were known for being funny at the expense of overgeneralizing racial stereotypes throughout. No race was spared and unless you have thin skin it should be funny to you as well. It depends on how sensitive you are and SJW's need not watch this.

Dolemite, (the real film) if taken seriously, looks like a really horrible film: The acting is done pretty poorly by mostly inexperienced actors and actresses, sometimes the actors shout their lines because they are very unfamiliar with how film works, and the fight scenes are not believable at all. The dialogue is completely over-the-top and as long as you accept it for what it is (and Rudy Ray Moore would later say this "camp-ness" of the film was intentional) it is actually a really good time.

It's one of those "so bad it's good" experiences similar to Tommy Wiseau's The Room.

There are times where it seems as though Eddie is having a hard time not being characters he has played in the past, mostly from the Nutty Professor series but overall we get a solid performance from him - I would say particularly during serious, emotional moments. Mike Epps, Craig Robinson, and especially Da'Vine Joy Randolph, do a far better job in a semi-serious role than I would have expected any of them capable of. At times it is almost emotional and I never would have guessed that these actors would have that affect on me.

At just under 2 hours, this film stayed pretty engaging for me the entire time but then again, I was already familiar with the original Dolemite film and was quite excited to see that someone made a dramatization about the "making of" such a legendary "blaxspoitation" film.

This film was likely not released in theaters because it would be difficult to convince people to spend money on an Eddie Murphy film whose plot revolves around another film that many of today's movie-goers might not even remember. But seeing as how I haven't been terribly happy with what Netflix has been offering me lately, I would say that this is one of the better films that I have seen in quite a while on the streaming service.

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_{Eddie and the real Rudy Ray Moore as Dolemite}

If you are familiar with the original, you are going to love this film: If you have no idea what Dolemite is, I think there is a better-than-average chance you are still going to enjoy it.

More creative and artsy than I expect from anything that Murphy is involved in, I whole-heartedly recommend this to pretty much anyone.

My overall rating? 8 / 10