Dolemite is My Name

 2.5/4

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Mike Epps, Craig Robinson, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Keegan-Michael Key

Rated R for Pervasive Language, Crude Sexual Content and Graphic Nudity

Bringing the story of Rudy Ray Moore, a blaxploitation pioneer and comic whose profane prose eventually evolved into rap (Moore was later dubbed "The Godfather of Rap"), to the screen has been a dream project for Eddie Murphy.  It's not hard to see why.  Both are charismatic and profane showmen who are most at home with raunchy, anti-PC material.  A biopic of Moore never materialized until Netflix offered Murphy his chance.  The result is a film that features Murphy in top dramatic form but feels overlong.

Rudy Ray Moore (Murphy) knows he was made for bigger things.  That's why he moved to LA to hit it big.  But success of any kind in showbiz remains elusive.  Genius strikes him when he realizes that there is money to be made making jokes that are considered improper or indecent.  Although his foul mouth gets him laughs, no one will help him produce albums.  Undaunted, Rudy produces them himself and becomes an underground success.  Then he has another idea: take his brand of outrageousness to the big screen.

Comedy is subjective, and I have to admit that I didn't find this movie very funny.  That isn't really much of a criticism because this is less a laff riot and more of a biopic of a comic.  The film's goal is telling the story of a man than getting the audience rolling in the aisles.  I understood what Moore was trying to do, and that's the important thing.

The trouble with a comic like Eddie Murphy playing another comic personality is to give into the temptation and allow his own persona to dwarf the person he is playing.  In other words, being Eddie Murphy in costume.  That doesn't happen here.  With a potbelly and flawless makeup, Murphy becomes Moore.  This is a performance, and that allows us to accept what happens.  His work is overpraised in some quarters, but it shows that Murphy has some strong thespian skills.  Being the force of nature that he is, it makes sense to keep the film's focus solely on Murphy.  The other cast members do their jobs, but this is his show.  The one performance that deserves mention is Da'Vine Joy Rudolph as Lady Bee, a husky woman that Murphy makes into a star.  While Rudolph isn't the greatest actress, their relationship is nicely played and shows the human side of Moore.  I could also mention the fact that Keegan-Michael Key manages to appear on screen without making me wish he got hit by a bus.  This is probably because he doesn't have a lot to do and doesn't try to "be funny."

In many ways, "Dolemite is My Name" feels like two movies in one: the birth of Rudy Ray Moore's Dolemite persona and his quest to put the character in a film.  While this material is interesting and effectively presented, it's still overlong.  Craig Brewer should have cut material from one half or the other (the first half would have been my vote) to allow the film's strengths to shine.  Too much time is spent on set up.  Once we understand Moore's struggles and plans, we don't need to see them repeated.

I admit that I liked a lot of this movie.  But in this case, a little less would have been much more.