A toned, young looking, Eddie Murphy is the main feature of
this one concept comedy directed by TV producer and relatively experienced Film
Director Brian Robbins. Robbins has a connection with Murphy and understands
his visual and vocal dexterity, which is evident in A Thousand Words, and he
has also worked with him on Norbit and the slightly funnier Meet Dave.
In this straight forward film the character Jack McCall
relies on his ‘gift of the gab’ to sign up authors for a publishing company but
he has his priorities all mixed up and it takes a magic tree and a spiritual
leader played by a strangely hippy like Cliff Curtis (Sunshine) to trap him in
what appears to be a magic curse where upon if he should utter more than a
thousand words he will die. He has to then think very carefully about what he
says to his wife Kerry Washington (Fantastic
4: Rise of the Silver Surfer) and his colleagues.
As concepts go this
one seems like an interesting premise but the problem is, and it is a big one
with a film about words, is the script. Time and time again we understand that
Murphy cannot say anything because the utterance of any words would shorten his
life but when face with the need for just a couple of important words he fails
to deliver. Surely a few well placed words is not too difficult to work out and
it just frustrates the viewer rather than making them laugh.
The tragic nature of
his curse is demonstrated, and Murphy show his talent, but this intimacy is
short lived and we are again treated to the character’s, poorly directed, surprisingly
volatile anger and the unfunny drama, after all this is a comedy. The one
character who comes out of the film with much credit is Clark Duke
(Kick-Ass), as Murphy’s PA, who is forging a bumbling sidekick type persona which
is paying his acting career dividends.
42/100
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