Eddie Murphy: Stronger than bombs

While on assignment in L.A. last summer, I found myself feeling... well, depressed would be an overstatement, but at the very least melancholy each morning when I ventured into the hotel parking lot and saw a massive billboard for Meet Dave looming across the street. You see, by that time, the surprisingly kid-friendly comedy had tanked at the box-office, and there was something rather sad about seeing an advertisement that big for something that had already bombed that badly. I had a very similar reaction tonight when I saw the above pictured poster for Imagine That outside a Houston theater. According to the New York Times, however, I shouldn't spend much time weeping for Eddie Murphy.

Review: Imagine That

Arguably the most innocuous movie of Eddie Murphy’s career to date, Imagine That is an undemandingly pleasant and mildly amusing fantasy in which nothing – not even those elements that actually define it as a fantasy – is ever allowed to get of hand. Arriving amid the summertime cavalcade of comedies suffused with raunchy tomfoolery, it may be greeted as a godsend by parents who want to share an afternoon outing at the megaplex with their pre-teen daughters. It’s difficult to image, however, that this PG-rated Paramount/Nickelodeon presentation will draw many ticketbuyers outside of that narrow (albeit potentially profitable) niche. You can read the rest of my Variety review here.