Meet Dave: He poops money. And if you think that's cool, just wait until you see what he can do with his finger. A simple, gag-oriented piece about a spaceship shaped like a man, Meet Dave features Eddie Murphy in a two-part role. When he's inside the ship (shaped like him), he's the tiny captain of an alien race looking to save their planet by stealing Earth's oceans.
When he's the ship itself - which looks like him - he's a funny walking, funny talking emulation of the human race who happens to have a money-spewing printer in his bum. As Norbit and the Klumps proved, Murphy is more than capable of playing multiple parts in a single film. Yet, not since the not-so halcyon days of Pluto Nash has the veteran comic donned a sci-fi costume and thrown himself into the breach of green screen.
Meet Dave doesn't do much for Murphy's sci-fi record. And it doesn't do much for an adult audience, either. But for those juvenile-minded fans of fart jokes and moronic physical comedy, meeting Dave may not be such a bad idea. After all, while other movies this summer may take on the task of deciphering the human mystery with a little movie magic, no other movie offers such comic moments featuring a man-shaped spaceship chowing down on 80 hot dogs. Count-em: 80 hot dogs. And guess what happens after the ship eats 80 hot dogs? It has to get rid of them!
Would you like me to tell you how? Given that most of Meet Dave relies on sight gags that involve Eddie Murphy playing a space ship that looks like Eddie Murphy, most of the humour in Meet Dave comes with a blinking red light warning you of the low-altitude approach. From "silent but deadly gas leaks" to the weensy crew swimming in a mouthful of mojitos, writers Rob Greenberg and Bill Corbett concoct a trickling stream of humour for Murphy to play with, but it's never enough to float the ship.
Murphy's comic talents reside in his ability to take huge, over-the-top moments and make them feel human. That's why Bowfinger and Trading Places are two of his finest screen performances to date: He was able to make the comic moment intimate by absorbing the big material physically - and delivering the quiet moments through dramatic performance.
Meet Dave doesn't have enough big moments, or enough finesse in the smaller moments, to really work much Murphy magic at all. And while the supporting cast that includes Elizabeth Banks and Gabrielle Union is up to par, their purpose seems to be set decoration more than anything else. This movie didn't have to be so lame. Surely, the idea of a tiny alien captain sitting inside a ship shaped like him had a lot of comic potential, especially when you consider the bowel movement gags.
OK. Maybe there was no hope from the beginning. No wonder Murphy was a no-show at the premiere. Chances are this movie that tries to exploit cash-rich poop will prove a little constipated at the box office.
