Review of Dolemite Is My Name (2019) by Amheretojudge — 26 Oct 2019

Murphy plays on the ground, the stage is for someone else and he is generous enough to know that and give it to others.

Dolemite Is My Name Brewer's film is a groovy Marvin Gaye song. Just like the one it is played in the back by Snoop DoggMurphy plays on the ground, the stage is for someone else and he is generous enough to know that and give it to others.

Dolemite Is My Name.

Brewer's film is a groovy Marvin Gaye song. Just like the one it is played in the back by Snoop Dogg at the beginning of the film which we will come back on later. By the way, I am going to mention everyone working behind this light hearted film. From the writers like Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski to the director Craig Brewer. Everyone working on one thing. And that is why this teamwork pays off in the best possible manner. It is a smooth glass of Bourbon. That's what it does the best. And mind you it is not a Bourbon that feels smooth after you've had a long hard day in your office but the one that feels easy when it is some weekend dinner party.

Coming back to the first scene of the film. And we come back for it paints the "comeback" of Eddie Murphy in the best way. That is an introduction that every actor would kill for. And Murphy never takes it for granted. So the scene goes like this. He, Murphy playing Rudy Ray Moore, is convincing someone acclaimed in the music field of his own art form, something that in the film, just as it did in reality, never travels for them throughout the film.

It is that arc of his character to not be able to convince but find a place for him that he has to and does create for himself. Something that cannot be touched and replaced. Murphy over the years has been criticised too. But his image has remained what it is, for his personality and not for the characters he portrays or the jokes he drops. Dolemite Is My Name is getting Oscar buzz for obvious reasons and at the helm of it, is Murphy. But I don't see any reason to even aspire or pursue it. Acknowledgement is one thing and being a "man of the people" another. I think he won.