It’s 1970, and Rudy Ray Moore is ready for comedy stardom. There are just a few things standing in his way. He’s over 40, overweight and black. It’s the 70s, so these things pretty much prevent him from ever achieving mainstream success. But he’s determined. When he works out a particular routine, involving vulgar, rhyming stories about a character named Dolemite, he produces a comedy record in his own apartment. And when record stores refuse to carry his work, calling it “filthy,” he decides to put the albums out himself, actually selling them from the trunk of his car. Eventually, he builds up enough of a following that he decides to bring Dolemite to the screen. Unfortunately, no one will invest in him, believing that there isn’t a big enough audience and that he isn’t leading man material. Rudy doesn’t let that stop him, though. As he always does, he finds a way to do it himself, discovering an abandoned hotel where he can shoot the movie without permits, and assembling a motley crew of film students, amateur actors, and strippers to bring the thing together. Will they succeed in creating a classic for the ages? Watch the movie and find out.
If you’ve read my reviews for Their Finest and One Cut Of The Dead, you know that I absolutely adore Showbiz flicks. And if you’ve read my review for The Disaster Artist, you know that my favorite film about filmmaking is Tim Burton’s Ed Wood. So imagine my excitement when I heard that the screenwriters of that movie, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, were writing another biopic about a famously bad filmmaker and that it would be starring Eddie Murphy. Very, let me tell you. And when I actually saw the film in question, I was not disappointed. This isn’t just Eddie Murphy’s best movie in years. It’s probably the writers’ best work yet, and probably the most enjoyable film about filmmaking I’ve seen. Yes, including Ed Wood. Like that flick, the film boasts some hilarious dialogue, fantastic performances, and exquisite, period-accurate costumes and sets. Unlike that film, though, where there is an undercurrent of tragedy to the proceedings, since you grow to love this character, but realize that he’s making bad movies that no one will ever watch, this film has a happy ending that you know is true, since Rudy Ray Moore did become successful in real life. This flick is also much more realistic when it comes to portraying the filmmaking process. In most movies about show business, they don’t bother including the lengthy, difficult process that is editing, marketing and distributing the product. This film does since we see Rudy spend so much of his own money on shooting the film that, for months after principal photography has wrapped, he can’t afford post-production. And when it finally does get edited, no one wants to screen it. He literally has to pay one theater a bunch of money to show it one time, and then spend even more money printing out fliers and marketing the damn thing himself. I could relate to this so much, since I produced a short film earlier this year, and let me tell you, paying for editing, sound mixing, color correction, and, oh yeah, festival submission fees, has been hard. I love that a big movie actually bothered to include all these things.
What this film probably does best though is to generate empathy for its subject. You love Rudy Ray Moore, not despite the fact that he’s poor and overweight and middle-aged, but because of those things. There’s a great sequence where Rudy has to shoot a sex scene, and he’s completely terrified because of his size, and how he doesn’t think he’s attractive. This moment is so endearing since it shows how insecure he is. And there’s a ton of other bits like that throughout the film, like when he calls out one of the actors for being condescending and dismissive of the project. “I know you’re Mr. Big Time,” he shouts, “but the rest of us ain’t never done no shit like this before. I’m paying for this whole goddamn thing myself, and I ain’t got no fucking ego about it. If a box needs to get moved, I’ll move the box. And if the crew gets hungry, I’ll go downstairs and make sandwiches.” This line shows us how he doesn’t think of himself as above anything or anyone and just makes him that much more lovable. And if lovable characters weren’t enough of a reason to watch this movie, it’s utterly hilarious as well. There are so many gut-busting moments in this film, like when Rudy is pitching ridiculous ideas for the script, including kung fu and an exorcism, to the screenwriter, or when the crew is attempting to stage a fight scene, but there’s no angle they can shoot at that’ll make it look like the performers are actually hitting each other. I was laughing so hard that tears started coming out of my eyes.
If you do decide to watch the flick, though, be aware of a few things. The humor is very raunchy. If you don’t like sex jokes or tons of swearing, you’ll hate this movie. On top of that, it is good to go into this film knowing a little bit about Rudy Ray Moore and the original Dolemite flick first. There are a lot of jokes, and whole scenes, that really only makes sense if you’re familiar with the source material. So it’s safe to say that this film will probably play best to film buffs and aspiring directors. All that said, I truly love this film, and would place it on my top 10 for the year, alongside The Farewell, Shazam, First Love, Luce, and Parasite. Don’t hesitate to give it a look.
liusviews 