"Dolemite is My Name" Review
First, I want to take the time to welcome Eddie Murphy back to cinema. It's been a long time coming and now he's hit the Netflix small screen with a star studded cast to give us Dolemite is My Name. If you know anything about comedy and Blaxploitation from the 70's then you've heard of the man known as Dolemite. Director Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow) gives us a look at Rudy Ray Moore's story in how he brought his first movie to the big screen and his tenacity to become the "Baddest Motherf*@#*& alive."
The film starts off with Rudy (Murphy) trying to find his niche in the entertainment industry doing odd jobs from singing, hosting clubs and working at a record store in order to find his claim to fame. After receiving inspiration from a local homeless man, Rudy creates the character Dolemite (a provocative pimp character with legendary stories). With the help of this persona, he finds his calling in the industry as a successful comedian. Subverting the norm, Rudy continues to find ways to push the envelope and turn his comedy albums into must have records around the US. It’s during a moment on the road that he gets the idea to make a motion picture of his character and bring it to the big screen with the thought process that movie distribution will put him everywhere at once. The only problem is he has no idea what he's doing. As he takes on the task, he quickly finds out he may have bitten off more than he could chew.
In the words of Dolemite, "its a movie that's made for the people and has funny, titties and kung fu." And this movie has all that and more! This movie also gives an inside scoop on what it took for black entertainers to breakthrough and have a voice in the entertainment industry in Hollywood by building from rock bottom in the 70s. The movie has a star studded cast featuring Snoop Dogg, Wesley Snipes, Mike Epps, Craig Robinson, Keegan Michael Key, Bob Odenkirk, Luenell and Tituss Burgess as well as appearances from other A listers. Seeing all these great actors in a cohesive film felt like a relatable episode of SNL.
Each actor embodied their roles. Ms. Lady Reed (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) did an outstanding job as Dolemite's first lady. I was surprised to see the chemistry of Da'Vine and Eddie work well together. Eddie Murphy is the and delivered with a capital D. Also seeing Wesley Snipes (D'Urville Martin) in a comedic role was another hidden gem in the movie. He gave the zeal and tenacity and has me looking forward to Coming to America 2 (still on the fence about this sequel).
Overall, this might go down as a cult classic about a cult classic. Funny, witty and did I mention funny? It made me want to go watch some Dolemite (not the greatest films by far) films over again with my new appreciation for what it took to make them. This film has great production value and a big screen film feel to it, which isn’t always typical of a Netflix movie. This is guaranteed to be a film you watch a few times with your family, friends and your pimp friends over the coming holidays.
Rating: B
