Dolemite is My Name stars Eddie Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore, a struggling artist working at a record store who also MC’s at a nightclub. One day, a homeless man wanders into the record store and begins chanting loud proclamations, one of which involves a character named Dolemite. Inspiration-struck, Rudy creates a stage persona based around Dolemite and delivers stories in a similar vein to the homeless man’s rants, and he soon becomes a comedy success, leading to the production of many records as well as inspiring Rudy to produce a feature film around the character.
In a way, Dolemite is My Name feels like the blaxpoitation answer to the 2017 film The Disaster Artist, which chronicled the production of the cult “so-bad-it’s-good” movie The Room. Similar to that film, at the heart of Dolemite is My Name is a story about one man who simply was looking for success and put together his own operation in an attempt to achieve that success. And the film chronicles the story of the DIY production with just the right mix of humor and heart to make this a consistently engaging experience.
The film feels like it transports the audience back in time, immersing the audience so deeply in the feel of the 1970’s. In terms of set design and costume design, this film is top notch, with many of the outlandish outfits that Rudy would wear while performing his comedy bits were visually astounding. The film also boasted an excellent soundtrack that was filled with plenty of excellent R&B and funk tracks blasting through each scene that really gave it the feel of the type of genre it was honoring.
This is also a very funny movie, with plenty of rapid-fire quips and insults being thrown around at lightning speed. The film has a great energy about it that keeps it moving at a mostly tight-knit pace. And that’s thanks to its excellent cast. This film boasts a wonderful supporting cast that all each have their own moment to get in a few great laughs, including Keegan-Michael Key, Craig Robinson, Mike Epps, and Titus Burgess. Though it’s Wesley Snipes as the Dolemite director D’Urville Martin who shines the most among this bunch, being an almost unwilling participant in the production and being a foil for Rudy, who often unintentionally usurped the role as director from him.
Though at the heart of it all, this film is ultimately Eddie Murphy’s movie, and he gives his best performance in a very long time here. Fans of his earlier work, such as his standup routines or his string of hits in the 80’s, will be very pleased with his performance here, as he recaptures a lot of that same energy he had when he was a young 20-something just bursting on the scene. He really brings out some of the ridiculous aspects of Rudy’s character through his rambling style of delivery, though what makes him so wonderful to watch is the fact that he never turns Rudy into a flat out caricature. He’s still portrayed as a man with hopes, dreams, and desires, and the movie consistently reminds the audience of that whenever things seem like they’re about to get really out there.
One of the only major criticisms I have is the fact that, seeing how this is mostly Murphy’s movie, none of the other supporting characters are ever really as fleshed out as Rudy is. Everyone is very funny and a total joy to watch, and while they’re not necessarily disposable stock characters, they do ultimately feel there as a way to service Murphy, and don’t really have much of an arc themselves. The only other exception was Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Lady Reed, a single mother who joins Rudy’s crew early on in his career as Dolemite. She brings a lot more of the emotional weight to the film and it’s shown that she clearly has just as much stake in Dolemite’s success as Rudy does, and she was just an absolute joy to watch, especially when she gets to play off of Murphy.
Only other thing I’d say is that in terms of pacing, this film is mostly on-point, though towards the middle, it is felt slightly. As Rudy and his friends are getting production ready to go into making the Dolemite film, it does slow down just a bit, and even one or two dialogue exchanges during the actual production felt like they could have been cut. The film mostly moved at a great pace, there were just a couple of times where it felt like it could have gotten from Point A to Point B just a bit quicker.
Dolemite is My Name is a wonderful movie that chronicles a troubled film production but still honors the legacy of all the people involved with said production, and always gives the feel that the audience is laughing with these characters, rather than at them. It’s a very funny, very emotional movie, with a great energy about it, thanks to its hilarious quips, top-notch soundtrack, and stellar production design. And at the center of it all, the film boasts what is by far the best performance by Eddie Murphy in years, showing that he still has plenty of fire left in him and can still be just as funny as he was when he first burst on the movie scene. This truly served as the perfect comeback vehicle for him.
Recommendation: Watch It
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