You got to give it to Netflix, they are firing in all directions to create original content. Although this is not groundbreaking stuff à la Roma, Dolemite is my name is a fun heartwarming comedy starring Eddie Murphy in the role of real-life Rudy Ray Moore, a man who never gave up his dreams of becoming famous. He tried his hands at singing, acting and making films to get there. Rudy Ray Moore was born in 1927 and died in 2008. I had never heard of him until seeing this film about him.
The film takes place in the 1970s and is filled with colourful costumes from that era, and features no cell phones.
It’s nice to see Eddie Murphy acting so well. He’s an actor I grew up seeing in Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop and Welcome to America. It’s like seeing an old friend. I didn’t see him in his 1990s-2010s films.
If you stick around passed the first 20 minutes, there are some hilarious scenes, in particular, a love scene which is just pure gold. Wesley Snipes who plays a film director steals every scene he is in. How Murphy and Snipes were not nominated for an Oscar is just baffling. Or maybe it isn’t. The film has some similarities with James Franco’s The Disaster Artist minus the sarcasm and cynicism. It shows how a man risked everything to pursue his dreams of making a film even if it felt doomed from the get-go. Dolemite is my name features some heart warming scenes like when Lady Reed, played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph, thanks Rudy Ray Moore for letting a woman like herself be in a film. She hadn’t seen anyone like her on the big screen until then.
If you want an upbeat film, Dolemite is the name.
7.5/10
Seen on Netflix on Feb 21, 2020 with Douglas