Dave finds his way, awkwardly, into hearts
As his searing performance in Dreamgirls confirmed, Eddie Murphy has under-explored depths, tones and talents. That the man who can, apparently, do anything chose to do the deliberately offensive Norbit (a choice that lost him the Oscar so richly deserved for Dreamgirls) is a mystery beyond solution.
As his searing performance in
Dreamgirls
confirmed, Eddie Murphy has under-explored depths, tones and talents. That the man who can, apparently, do anything chose to do the deliberately offensive
Norbit
(a choice that lost him the Oscar so richly deserved for
Dreamgirls
) is a
mystery beyond solution.
Less mysterious is his follow-up. In Meet Dave, family-friendly as a Fourth of July picnic, Murphy and Norbit director Brian Robbins redeem themselves with a performance and scenario that might have been developed for Steve Martin.
It's a charmer about inch-high, salt-starved space aliens from planet Nill and their attempts to navigate New York and understand earthlings. They are led by Captain (Murphy), who pilots starship Dave, a human-scale marionette (Murphy again).
Operated by the Captain and a crew including the fetching Gabrielle Union, Dave's mission is to deploy a meteorite-like sponge that will suck up all salt in the Atlantic.
To Gina (Elizabeth Banks), a widow he encounters, and her son, Josh (Austyn Myers), who has found the meteorite, the stranger seems a little . . . strange. His delayed responses are interpreted as thoughtful or dreamy. Murphy is frighteningly funny at suggesting that Dave is a sophisticated piece of machinery occupied by a crew at cross purposes.
The film's warm humor relies on the physical comedy of this creature whose limbs and mouth are run by remote control. Wearing a a three-piece white suit that makes him resemble both a disco prince and Martin in his '70s stand-up act, Murphy's Dave stutters and stammers and herks and jerks and charms. Trying to smile, he overdoes it and looks like a barracuda with an underbite. Trying to dance, he underreaches and looks like a spastic robot.
Murphy's Captain, a British-colonial version of Capt. Kirk, sports a dove-gray Chairman Mao uniform, clipped diction, and a growing appreciation of all things human. For beneath the surface slapstick of the emotionless-aliens-on-a-mission, Meet Dave is an endearing fable about how the species whose resources the aliens want to deplete inadvertently enrich the extraterrestrials' lives. Meet Dave isn't great, but it's good enough. And it proves once again that Murphy can do anything - even a PG comedy in which he isn't a donkey.
Meet Dave **1/2 (out of four stars)
Directed by Brian Robbins. With Eddie Murphy, Gabrielle Union and Elizabeth Banks. Distributed by 20th Century Fox.
Running time: 1 hour, 30 mins.
Parent's guide: PG (suggestive humor)
Playing at: area theaters
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