"Dolemite Is My Name" gives Eddie Murphy the tailor-made role of a never-say-die comic. The blue, R-rated language & material feels best suited to a midnight movie, instead of home viewing on Netflix. Fans of "Ed Wood" and "The Disaster Artist" will find similar comedy here. 2½ stars, rated "R."
Eddie Murphy returns to the kind of energetic R-rated comedy that made him famous in "Dolemite Is My Name," based on the career of foul-mouthed 1970s comic Rudy Ray Moore. A one-time singer and emcee, Moore seizes on stories he hears from street people about a character named Dolemite. As Moore, Murphy fashions the tales into a rhyming stage performance, heavy on shock (for the time) including the "MF" word and references to various body parts. The act turns into a successful series of comedy albums leading to the ultimate dream, a full length film. The making of "Dolemite" (1975, you can watch the original on Amazon Prime) feels like another version of "Ed Wood" or "The Disaster Artist." The comedy celebrates the art of never giving up. In reality, "Dolemite" found its fans as a midnight movie, reminding me of the fun of midnight showings of camp classics including "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." It's great to see Eddie Murphy having fun. It's also a little unnerving to watch this deep blue material at home on Netflix. Imagine watching with crowd at midnight.
