Eddie Murphy in the 80s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BjrG5QQZxE

Coming to America is probably his most ambitious display as a comedian and actor, but I love the hell out of Trading Places.

best defense is the movie with the tank starring dudley moore, and i think i saw it when i was 9 on vhs (i remember a joke where dudley moore said "i would pay $$$$$ to feel warm air come out of that girl's vagina" [i am paraphrasing] and thought why would someone do that? obv now i am mature it is clear to me) and even then i knew it was hellzacruddy

I saw a bio show on Eddie Murphy over the holidays and he said he had already agreed to do Best Defense by the time 48 Hrs was a hit and before Trading Places had even come out. It was a huge bust, but thankfully almost no one even remembers it exists.

Sticking a vote in for Harlem Nights coz I don't think it'll get much love in a strong field.

This scene cracks me up every time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOJoz3wdTjU

I voted or "48 Hrs", because it's his best serious acting performance. I predict that "The Golden Child" will come bottom of this poll - wasn't it his attempt to deliberately move away from comedy movies? Meanwhile, "Coming To America" is just flat out hilarious from start to finish: "(looking at a map of NYC) Where can I find a bride in New York? Ah, Queens!"

I thought to do this poll because the new Undrcrwn shirt reminded me of Coming to America and how glorious every moment it is

http://cache0.bigcartel.com/product_images/3583832/InDaFaceTee_fr.jpg

Saw Murphy once being asked why he agreed to do Best Defence and he said "there was a knock on my hotel door and four guys walked in carrying a cheque".

Voted Coming to America, just, to avoid choosing between Trading Places and 48 Hrs. Good job Raw wasn't on the list.

Agh! I should have put the standups. Shit!

Can never remember what the 1st standup movie is called but it's better than Raw iirc.

Delirious. I agree. Raw has a lot of great stuff but it feels pretty mean-spirited some of the time. It also has fewer jokes.

Yeah, Raw is the "starting to moan about being rich" phase plus there's some not v. funny monologue-y stuff two thirds in (?) but on the other hand "Italian dudes who've just been to see Rocky" is all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fp67geuhJM

Of the 3 I've seen here, Trading Places shows him off best. Still, I'm happy that this tranny-loving homophobe has subsequently wasted his talent. Burn in hell.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

wouldn't go with delerious over raw tbh, raw is pretty much start-to-finish.

Oft forgotten is that Beverly Hills Cop is a *great* movie with an original screenplay that was even nominated for the Oscar that year.
I wish they'd do a proper Criterion-type fancy DVD for it.

trading places

Trading Places is probably the least funny of the group! I saw it recently. Great story, though, and I loved it when I was a kid like anything

I have fond memories of Coming to America. I particularly enjoyed the jokes involving the word 'fuck' when I was a youngster.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Results 1 - 10 of about 9,830 from myspace.com for "sexual chocolate". (0.22 seconds)

Holy shit I want that University of the United States shirt!!!!

Trading Places, really? that's one of those movies that i'll watch for 5 minutes, then get bored and change the channel, never thought it was as highly regarded as Coming To America, or even 48 Hrs

Raw has a lot of great stuff but it feels pretty mean-spirited some of the time. It also has fewer jokes.

A great deal of Raw is sexist and mean-spirited as all hell. The whole middle third is unwatchable. It's like instead of watching Richard Pryor talk about having a horrible argument with his wife in which the cops get called, we actually have to watch the argument itself. It's human, I suppose, but no less appalling because of it. So you're angry at uppity women who want your vast riches. So fuck you. Who cares.

BUT. When he gets angry at people who are worthy targets, he's fantastic. The whole last ten minutes of this movie are symphonically funny, the way maybe only Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby are. It starts with the new rules for Lillian, and builds to having to wear Twister mats to school. (Sorry I can't find a clip of the whole bit.) Weeping, blowing-your-nose funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXU4OsuLM60

raw is fucked up as all hell but it's funny as shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LymeOcJyJtg

My wife had never seen "Trading Places," so we watched it last week. Well, most of it - once it got to the train and the gorilla and James Belushi at the end I was all, fuck this, is doesn't get any better, this is the worst ending to a great comedy since "Stripes." My wife's reaction to Eddie in his early, more OTT scenes is that it was a sort of uncomfortably racist caricature. But then the character early on is OTT, just as Aykroyd is. "Trading Places" is not subtle.

Interesting comparison; I hadn't thought about the Trading Places ending being bad, just incomprehensible, not knowing how commodities trading works. Had decent energy, though. Now that I think about it, the Stripes ending did pretty much suck.

And yeah, definitely not much subtlety in the film, but this is probably my favorite moment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emvySA1-3t8

This year I've decided to reply "What?" to anyone who wishes me merry Christmas.

it's funny as shit

not very reassuring

When slave resister Nat Turner recently went viral, I humbly asked @SNLSnippets to post Eddie Murphy's "Kill The White People" as a tribute. They may not have it, so here it is. https://t.co/sb4gfyCV9P

— Dennis Perrin (@DennisThePerrin) April 13, 2019

we watched Coming To America last night - it really holds up for an 80s comedy!

holds up well enough for there to be a 32-years-later sequel out soon, even

which the still-alive john amos and james earl jones are in*!! wow

*arsenio hall and shari headley too - it really seems to be a genuine gang-back-together sequel

same original screenwriters too! the only significant difference is that landis is out