Director: Craig Brewer
Writer: Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski (Screenplay)
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Keegan-Michael Key, Mike Epps, Craig Robinson, Tituss Burgess, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Snoop Dogg, Wesley Snipes
Plot: Eddie Murphy portrays real-life legend Rudy Ray Moore, a comedy and rap pioneer who proved naysayers wrong when his hilarious, obscene, kung-fu fighting alter ego, Dolemite, became a 1970s Blaxploitation phenomenon.
Tagline – Make your own legend.
Runtime: 1 Hour 58 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Fun Throughout
Story: Dolemite is My Name starts as we meet Rudy Ray Moore (Murphy) who works in a record store and is trying desperately to make a name for himself in the entertainment industry and constantly getting caught up meeting rejection. Rudy is always willing to try something new, which sees her turn to a raunchy comedy routine, which sees him rise to stardom.
When Rudy creates the character of Dolemite, he becomes a success, but he wants the whole world to know his act, which sees him turn to writer Jerry (Key) to create a new story that his comedy can work around to make his own movie to bring his material to the world.
Thoughts on Dolemite is My Name
Characters – Rudy Ray Moore has always wanted to entertain people, he has made records, introduces performers, but has always been told he couldn’t, he creates his own character which sees his stock rise, before trying to make his own movie, risking everything he has earnt to make an impossible sounding movie, proving that he managed to live a character and remain himself off camera. Jerry writes the movie, he does have different ideas to Rudy coming from a more professional background. Jimmy, Ben and Toney are three of the best friends of Rudy that have worked with him for years. D’Urville Martin has been in major film and is talked into directing the project, he will get extra laughs knowing he isn’t working with the most professionally knowledgeable team.
Performances – Eddie Murphy is wonderful in the leading role being able to let loose on his louder form of comedy. Wesley Snipes steals the show with his supporting role, while the rest of the cast are flawless through the film.
Story – The story here follows Rudy Ray Moore who was a natural entertainer who was waiting for his big break and ended up making it happen himself by creating the character Dolemite, a character that went from comedy records to film, breaking boundaries along the way. This is a story of Rudy struggles to get to the top, we see his safe routine not getting enough buzz and how his risk to change things made him a superstar, this is all good to see, though it would have been nice to see a little bit more of his early career, as it is his constant rejections which motivate him to continue his journey. Watching how the film gets made is a lot of fun, we can always enjoy movies and movies being made.
Biopic/Comedy – The biopic side of the film does only show a small part of the life and career of Rudy, it does feel like there is a lot more to talk about before and after the events of the film, while the comedy works wonders getting plenty of laughs from Murphy and Snipes who steals the comedy.
Settings – The film does use the locations that show us how the community was close together supporting each other and how doing that help create the cinema dreams of Rudy.
Scene of the Movie – The production process.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not learning more about the supporting people around the film.
Final Thoughts – This is a fun loud comedy that showed how one man would risk everything to make something out of his dreams to have a career in entertainment, where Eddie Murphy gives his best for performance for years, as does Wesley Snipes.
Overall: Murphy Triumphs
