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All Movie Info
Starring:
Elizabeth Banks, Eddie Murphy, Gabrielle Union, Ed Helms, Judah Friedlander, Stephanie Venditto, Mike O'Malley, Brandon Molale, Pat Kilbane, Yvette Nicole Brown, Blake Young-Fountain, Philip Pavel, Rebecca Merle, Paul Scheer, Kimberly Dorsey, Brian Huskey, Allisyn Ashley Arm, Craig Gellis, Peter Conboy, Jane Bradbury, The Naked Cowboy, Jim Turner, Village, Nick Wall, Janine Edwards, Sherman Alpert, Paul Thornton, Mario Loya, Bill Sorice, Duncan Hale Murdoch, Smith Cho, Brandon G. Holley, Michael Den Dekker, Joe Giorgio, Carol Commissiong, Shawn Christian, Adam Tomei, Vince Cupone, Karen Berg, Sandy Sunshine, Rashida Roy, Carol Commissiong, Hallie Lambert, Inbal Samuel, Austyn Myers, Paul Basile, Scott Forrester, Phyllis Kay, Christina Wun, Madeline Petrisi, Brandon Michael Vega, John Mainieri, Annette Nicole, Jamel Gay, Michael Izquierdo, Abbey Lerman, Nick Berman, Richard Cerenzio, Makoto Tanaka, Orock Orock, Phaedra Nielson
Directed By:
Brian Robbins
Written By:
Rob Greenberg, Bill Corbett
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Meet Dave (2008)
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Movie Review by Jarrod 
July 12th, 2008
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You may be shocked to learn that 'Meet Dave' is not a total disaster. It is not a good movie by any means, but it is vastly superior to everything Eddie Murphy has done in the last six years, from Dr. Dolittle, Daddy Day Care, notorious turkey Pluto Nash and the godawful Norbit. 'Meet Dave' is another Murphy foray into science fiction; Pluto Nash represented his first, and I am guessing he has grown a bit wiser since then. Murphy is a talented comedian, and I remember fondly his stand-up routines from the 80s, his stint on SNL, and his early string of box office hits, the Beverly Hills Cop franchise, 48 Hrs., Trading Places, and Coming to America. I have not given up hope on Murphy, and believe he could revitalize his career, but may only be able to do so by abandoning formulaic family-oriented pap and returning to edgier, R-rated fare. 'Meet Dave' is about a group of aliens who come to earth to gather the salt they need to revive their dying planet. They arrive here in a spaceship that looks like an ordinary man, which has been named Dave (Murphy). The crew inside controls his every movement and word, and debate amongst themselves what words and movements are appropriate for a given situation. Needless to say, Dave initially sticks out like a sore thumb, with his goofy grin and awkward speech, but he does bond with an 11-year-old boy, Josh (Austyn Myers), whose mother, Gina (Elizabeth Banks) Dave will eventually fall in love with. This, of course, jeopardizes the mission. Gina actually hits Dave with her car, feels bad about it, and brings him home, and it turns out there is something extremely important lying at the bottom of Josh's fishbowl. This is more plot than the movie actually needs; it works from a very simple and safe fish-out-of-water story, follows a predictable trajectory, and threatens to bog itself down with a number of silly contrivances that seek to emphasize that Dave no longer just mimics human behavior, but actually begins to understand it, and thus is on his way to becoming a fully functional human being, and not just a replica of one.
Dave's external appearance is modeled after that of the captain, who supervises a crew filled with colorful personalities, each member is responsible for operating a different part of Dave's body, and yes there is a Lieutenant Buttocks, who issues an alert when gas leaks occur, and this is a not-so-clever way of incorporating fart jokes into the mix, what a tiresome comic staple that is, but as long as people continue to laugh at them, they will be there. 'Meet Dave' draws some inspiration from Joe Dante's Innerspace, and parodies Star Trek, notably when it heads inside the ship and focuses on the interactions of the crew. The romance is lame, as there is not a single spark between Murphy and Banks, and it doesn't help that Banks is more or less completely lifeless, offering only a pretty face and not much else. There are moments of clumsy, forced, and ill-conceived melodrama. Some of Murphy's antics are mildly amusing, are good for a few half-hearted chuckles, but they quickly run out of steam, and Murphy is left desperately searching for another gag that could produce laughs. It might have been better if he had written the script himself, or simply rebelled against what has been given to him by Rob Greenberg and Bill Corbett by improvising in style of Robin Williams.
The finished product, as it stands, is trite and forgettable. It does not aspire to rise above mediocrity. Murphy and director Brian Robbins are banking on the kinds of people who paid to see Norbit to fill the theaters for this movie, as well. One thing intrigued me, however, and that was the nature of the aliens themselves. They are miniature (perhaps even microscopic) humans; there is no other tangible difference between them and their earthly brethren. And yet, they must be different at a biological level, since they live somewhere other than Earth, somewhere that is never specified, but I would assume maybe Mars, since it has the atmosphere and ecosystem most similar to that of Earth, and could feasibly sustain humanoid life. Or they could live beyond our solar system, in another galaxy or segment of the universe. These are mere speculations on my part; questions that just sprang into my mind while watching the movie, and are illustrative of how engaged I was in the experience.
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