Was Eddie Murphy really underrated?

[Too Much Fun]

OK, so what do we all think is Eddie's finest work? My personal favourite has to be Trading Places, though I'd put Coming to America as a close second.

Add in the first Beverly Hills Cop, and you have the perfect Eddie Murphy trifecta.

Don't forget "48 Hrs."! One of the best, most influential 'buddy cop' movies ever. Very stylish, funny, and smart. And as a bonus, Denise Crosby has a memorable cameo as a baseball bat-wielding lesbian.

 

[Kirby]

I hate all those movies where he plays a whole bunch of characters, most of which are in fat suits.

Anyone remember Best Defense? One of the worst movies of all time.

I love Trading Places, 48 Hours, Beverly Hills Cop, Bowfinger, and Coming to America.

 

[barnaclelapse]

Yep, exactly. I'm sure he could be brilliant again if he had the right script. Personally, I really think he was brilliant in the Beverly Hills Cop movies. Chris Rock seems to try to be Eddie Murphy in some of his movies by following in his footsteps and he just comes across as really annoying instead.

Right now however, he seems to choose terrible scripts, much the same way Robin Williams has been doing. Like od0 has stated, he started making movies his kids could watch, instead of just doing a great movie that both adults and kids could watch. Oh, I think his best stuff lately has been playing Donkey in the Shrek series.

Sadly (I don't care for the Shrek movies) that's more or less true.

And at least Robin Williams redeems himself with movies like "World's Greatest Dad" and his small but definitely memorable performance in "Shrink". Williams at least still seems to be interested in doing movies that offer some kind of challenge to him as an actor. Murphy has been phoning it in for years now, and that's a shame to people who know at one time he was capable of some really good work.

Yeah, I agree. He should ditch his agent for someone who will find him better work. Maybe he should get Robin William's agent, because like you say, at least Robin Williams has been stretching himself as an actor by finding new stuff to do, often outside of comedy, even. Maybe he needs a drama that will make people see a new side of him and excersize his acting abilities. That's what I've admired out of Robin Williams and his ability to delve into different kind of roles. I think it's important for an actor to do these kind of roles because otherwise they'll just become complacent and eventually the offers start to dry up as they get older. Heck, he could take a cue from Leslie Nielsen, who was a dramatic actor before he turned to comedy. It's all about adaptation.

Exactly, and I do think Murphy has the capacity to do some good dramatic work. He's certainly shown flickers of it in past films.

It's not like he even has to stop doing the crappy comedies. Obviously they pay well.