Holy Man

Holy Man, for example, which was promoted as a raucous Eddie Murphy comedy rather than the somber, sincere satire-cum-cautionary tale it turns out to be, in which Murphy plays second fiddle to Jeff Goldblum, a home shopping channel programmer who is conflicted over whether to exploit Murphy's charismatic "holy" guru, or be honest with people rather than use any means necessary to sell to them. Could be funny, yes; but the folks who cue up Holy Man expecting to have their funny bones tickled, will instead be treated to a two hour lecture on the evils of consumerism. And what an achingly strident lecture it is, with Goldblum furrowing his brow at regular intervals to make it clear he's in the middle of a Jerry Maguire-sized crisis of professional conscience. The sad part is that Holy Man could have been an effective piece of social satire, had Disney crowd-pleaser-in-residence Stephen Herek (101 Dalmatians, The Mighty Ducks) not committed the criminal offense of going all warm-n-fuzzy on a topic as ripe for savaging as home shopping. It's a similar offense to waste Murphy's talents, or at least the talents he's interested in showing. You have to respect him for his recent stretch beyond wiseguys with honking laughs, but he's still at the mercy of marketing geniuses who promise audiences an Eddie they're not going to get. Not recommended. (S. Renshaw) [Blu-ray/DVD Review—Nov. 19, 2019—Kino Lorber, 113 min., PG, DVD: $11.95, Blu-ray: $14.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and Blu-ray, 1998’s Holy Man features a fine transfer and a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition, but no extras. Bottom line: although it looks better on Blu-ray, this is still a lame Eddie Murphy comedy.]