Dolemite Is My Name Celebrates Blaxploitation Cinema à la Eddie Murphy
After a series of duds, Eddie Murphy returns in his most triumphant performance since James “Thunder” Early in Dreamgirls. Playing Rudy Ray Moore, director of the hit blaxploitation film Dolemite (1975), Murphy completely immerses himself in the role of Moore, portraying someone who only wants to be recognized and loved by many. Following an very predictable structure, we see Moore’s rise to Stardom and how he, against all odds, made it to the big leagues by releasing one of the most passionnate, yet unintentionally hilarious films ever made.
You might draw comparaisons to The Disaster Artist, but Rudy Ray Moore is no Tommy Wiseau. Moore is someone who is so vehemently passionnate about bringing his character “Dolemite” to life that moviemaking experience won’t stop him from convincing D’Urville Martin (Wesley Snipes) to direct, and passionately create a cult hit that he can’t help but being admired, compared to Wiseau’s wanting to become the greatest actor in the world and self-indulgent ego that permeates in The Room. Eddie Murphy portrays Moore with such energy and finesse that his performance almost brought me down to tears. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Murphy at the top of his form, the last time was in Dreamgirls, but even in that movie he wasn’t at the true TOP of his game like he was in Beverly Hills Cop, Bowfinger, The Nutty Professor, The Golden Child. For the first time in so long, we have a genuinely funny Eddie Murphy performance, with incredible finesse in his facial expressions and comedic timing. He steals the entire movie and elevates its predictable structure to great entertainment. He can imitate Moore brilliantly, especially when he recreates cult scenes of Dolemite (The famous “Drive N**** Drive!” always has me in stitches). The entire cast does a terrfic job, including a fantastically hilarious Wesley Snipes who portrays a director who really doesn’t give a damn but only accepted the job because of the directing credit he’s going to have. I also loved Tituss Burgess and Craig Robinson who bring great comedy, alongside Mike Epps who has a fantastic comedic bit near the middle of the movie.
The main problem with Dolemite is my Name is the cookie-cutter structure it adopts. With many biopics, their structure takes very little risk and I’ve grown tired of the same checklist by-the-numbers route it takes. It’s time for biopics to step up their game, and yes, it is amusing to see how Moore created “Dolemite”, the film needed more punch and more risk-taking. Its script is very simple and takes us to the beats of Rudy Ray Moore’s life, without an ounce of creativity or imagination to transpose a 70s-esque aesthetic on screen. If you removed the wonderful costumes from Ruth E. Carter and vintage cars, you could almost think it was a film set in 2019. Its cinematography is quite visually interesting, but its production design isn’t. Maybe it’s due to a lack of budget, but it doesn’t feel or ooze the vibe that most 70s blaxploitation films had. Its ending is also very long. After Dolemite finishes production, there seems to be another 30 minutes added to this and it feels wholly unnecessary. It introduces new chracters, like Bob Odenkirk’s Lawrence Woolner, Chris Rock’s Bobby Vale and Barry Shabaka Henley’s Demond. All of these extended cameos are nice, but they add absolutely NOTHING to the actual movie.
It’s a shame because the heart of Dolemite is My Name is fantastic, commanded by a career-best performance from Eddie Murphy who gives his heart out to Moore and celebrate the beautiful genre of cinema that is blaxploitation that helped shaped the countercultural new hollywood with films such as Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, Shaft, Coffy, Foxy Brown, Superfly and DOLEMITE! It’s a fun celebration of blaxploitation cinema, elevated by Murphy’s terrific acting skills that reminisce his prime as an actor in the 1980s-1990s. A shame the plot structure of the film is way too familiar for its own good.
✯✯✯½
