Eddie Murphy Raw (1987)

Expected more

Best movie ever!

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This opens with a young Eddie Murphy shocking his family during the Thanksgiving gather in 68. It's his standup in Madison Square Garden. He's afraid of Mr. T but not so much Michael Jackson after making fun of them in Delirious. He imitates Bill Crosby chastising him and praises his hero Richard Pryor. It's a night of foul-mouthed nasty stories with references to various pop culture personalities. He and his purple outfit has the audience in the palm of his hands. This is Eddie Murphy at his highest point. He is irreverent and fearless. He comes off as a homophobic misogynist and it doesn't matter. He takes on anything and anyone. He's full of power and energy. Robert Townsend captures it all.

Like Richard Pryor, I must admit, it is fun to watch another foul mouthed comic, up on stage. Though not matching the credentials of the late, brilliant insightful comic, Pryor, who I believe was even a better actor, what we have is 86 minutes guaranteed worth of raucous laughs. From infidelity to poverty, where the poor Murphy family were reduced to eating slinky springs, Murphy kicks up a storm of laughs, while remaining coolly confident, which a few budding comedian must envy. Murphy knows how to dress too, his attire more effective than his ruddy sort in Delirious. Too, the start was inventive, with Eddie's childhood, Samuel L Jackson, playing a small but fine role as the Grandfather, egging little Eddie on in the tellings of a dirty joke, seeing star potential. And to split opinions, where personally I didn't like Best Defence, I'd choose Beverly Hills Cop over 48 Hours, any day. I must admit, Murphy isn't afraid to be dramatic about the underlying realities of his jokes. it. His impersonations are fantastic, Bill Cosby, is almost nailed, plus others that impress. Here's a great night in, to save you from going out in the cold to a concert. If you don't mind profanity, that is.

This is the most well put together and sublimely funny stand-up act I've ever seen. Raw seals all the cracks that appear in Murphy's first concert movie, Delirious, with the performance and material being more mature and competent in front of the audience.Murphy combines spot-on celebrity impressions with observational humour. For me, this is certainly not the laughter of recognition; my upbringing could not have been more different to Eddie's. I can only imagine the comedic effect on anyone who grew up in the poor areas of sixties America.Given Murphy's race, and the predominantly black audience, it is a relief that the show is not dominated by the racial humour that tends to let down other stand-ups, who insist on pointing out the differences between white and black guys. When Murphy does tackle this subject, he dishes it out to every race and then moves on to the shared experiences of childhood.Near the end, Murphy begins an impression of his father which turns into a drawn-out sketch, reprising the similar one in Delirious. This makes the most of Murphy's acting skills with the most suitable material; a bit like The Klumps but without the child-friendly content.Nowhere else are Eddie Murphy's talents so well show-cased, but if you like this, see also; Delirious, The Golden Child, Coming to America, and Trading Places.

For years, I had wanted to see this film (not badly, but anyway), but not once had I located a copy of it in any shop or rental store, or even read about a theater or TV screening I could catch. After all, I'm a fan of everything Eddie Murphy did in the 80's, and RAW was one of the few holes still left unfilled. Then, lo and behold, yesterday it turned up on Finnish TV, and I sat down to watch it.I wasn't expecting too much, so I didn't feel disappointed. Eddie doesn't talk about as many subjects as you'd expect from a 90 minute film, so mostly he just drones on and on about something that wasn't too funny in the first place. I concentrated more on his mimicry and timing than the actual jokes, and they were really spot-on. A comedian without those assets pulling off the same stories Eddie did would just have bored his or her audience to death, but with Eddie, the time rushed on surprisingly quickly. And he sure loves to entertain - you can tell that from the sudden ending, which almost seemed like Eddie was interrupting himself.On the downside, the flashback scene at the beginning was a little unnecessary, during the actual stand-up performance the camera was too close - we missed out on Eddie's attempts to do the Moonwalk - and I felt no particular urge to watch RAW a second time. But as a one-time experience, it was memorable. Best bits: Eddie's impersonation of Bill Cosby and his idol, Richard Pryor, and the story about the wife alone in the Bahamas (Man, I loved that microphone-swinging!).Now, how about screening Delirious as well?