Hey, kids! Remember when Eddie Murphy was the coolest,
edgiest comedy person on the scene? I sure don’t, but we’re going to take a
look at his own first major movie hit anyway!
Yup, younger generations might not have a clue, but in the
early eighties, a young Eddie Murphy, barely into his twenties, was taking
Saturday Night Live by storm. His comedy routines would go on to influence the likes
of David Chappelle and Chris Rock, and instantly caught on with the public.
Some of them ranged from the usual nice and rosy topics of American race
relations, and others that haven’t aged that great at dealt with, well,
homosexual people. And while I’m not one to insist on comedy being all squeaky
clean, it’s…honestly a bit difficult to get into those now.
Still, Murphy didn’t stay focusing on one thing for long—he co-starred
in SNL films like Trading Places, nearly got himself Ernie Hudson’s role in
Ghostbusters, and even made an album or two. These gave us the culture-defying,
mind-blowing masterpiece of scintillatingly sublime lyricism that is Boogie in Your
Butt:
I honestly kind of enjoy that.
Anyway, Murphy ended up taking on a script that was originally
meant to be a Stallone vehicle of all things, written as a dead serious cop thriller.
Stallone eventually did that project anyway as Cobra, which, well, I honestly
preferred when he redid it as Demolition Man.
Where was I? Oh yeah, Beverly Hills Cop. It’s alright.
Considering Eddie was only twenty three or so when it was made, he’s not half
bad in it, improv-ing his way through as the wiseass Sergeant Axel Foley, moved
from the rough streets of Detroit to Beverly Hills. The plot is fairly typical
and kind of thin—you’re really there just to see how Foley bullshits his way
through every situation in front of him. His character comes off as a bit of an
asshole sometimes, but at least an asshole who comes up with things so
ridiculous you kind of want to see where it goes next.
And yes, we have the usual slightly dated stereotype jokes,
but this still being the early eighties and all, it’s something you just have
to expect.
Beyond that, there’s not a whole lot to say—I’d personally take
Lethal Weapon over it myself, and out of Eddie’s eighties outings, some people
prefer Coming to America, but this one’s still decently watchable. I honestly
enjoy the fleeting scene of Foley’s 500-curse-a-minute, take no shit police chief
boss at the beginning, which a cliché it may be now, but a sure as hell fun one
here.
Now, there’s one more thing to note, and that’s the movie’s
theme—a synth instrumental that’s pretty catchy by itself. However, in some
parts of the world in the early 2000s, it was repurposed as a really annoying,
all-pervasive ringtone song—you even younger kids might need to ask your older
siblings—and that might just tarnish it a teensy bit in the memories of some.
But yeah. For all his future dross like Pluto Nash and the Nutty
Professor sequels, Eddie Murphy had an alright start all things considered, and
as one of the top hits of 1984, Beverly Hills Cop is something you can easily
watch on a Sunday afternoon.
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