With the exception of his Oscar-nominated turn in Dreamgirls, Eddie Murphy has lately been top-lining one lame comedy after another…like filmmaker Brian Robbins' Meet Dave. Here, Murphy plays two roles…sort of: 1) he's the teeny-tiny captain of a crew of bite-sized aliens traveling to Earth in a 2) humanoid spaceship that looks just like him. Dispatched in search of water for their parched world, the extraterrestrials believe they know how Americans act, and their fully-functional spaceship (i.e., Murphy) is set up to respond to external stimuli in ways that will keep its true identity secret. But when single mom Gina (Elizabeth Banks) and her adolescent son Josh (Austin Myers) hit the alien craft with their car, the crew's carefully calibrated plans go haywire. The laughs—such as they are—derive from Murphy's outrageous mugging, verbal faux pas, and jerky movements. Gifted actress Banks, on the other hand, has no opportunity to show what she's capable of, and Gabrielle Union is totally wasted in the thankless role of Murphy's adoring junior officer. Not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include the eight-minute “Crew Confessions” featurette, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are the Fox Movie Channel-produced featurette “Life After Film School” with director Brian Robbins (29 min.), a 23-minute “making-of” featurette, a 10-minute featurette on “Making a Scene,” the “World Premiere” featurette (5 min.), a three-minute gag reel, three minutes of deleted scenes, a brief alternate ending, and crew profiles. Bottom line: although the Blu-ray version features a lot more in the way of extras, the film itself is still a lesser Murphy vehicle.] (E. Hulse)
Meet Dave
Fox, 90 min., PG, DVD: $29.99, Blu-ray: $39.99, Nov. 25 Volume 23, Issue 6
Meet Dave
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