Being Eddie Review – The venerable Netflix doc paints a limited picture of Eddie Murphy | Eddie Murphy

forEing Eddie, Netflix’s new documentary about Eddie Murphy, isn’t his best film. It’s not his worst. It’s something that justifies the 64-year-old signing a $70 million production contract in the hopes that he can finally return to his comedy roots and deliver the long-awaited follow-up to his 1987 special Raw. With access to the subject matter and its archival material purchased and paid for, “Being Eddie” is free to focus on other aspects of Murphy’s life, starting with gorgeous shots of his gothic mansion and its retractable roof. As the camera stares at Murphy’s 40-plus career spoils, he still does his best to tell viewers that his daily routine isn’t much different from theirs: He goes to work, hangs out with his family and falls asleep to MTV’s Ridiculousness. He thinks it’s the funniest show on television, in fact, and would rather binge-watch that blooper series (which he likens to the avant-garde works of Alejandro Jodorowsky) than reruns of his greatest hits.

That would be a bold admission to make even if it wasn’t coming from the funniest person ever, and Being Eddie wastes no time in making Murphy’s claim to that title tough. To confirm, director Angus Wall begins by consulting with the other beneficiaries of major Netflix deals: Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, and Jerry Seinfeld. It’s hard to swallow all this reverence for Murphy from comedians who have become increasingly uncomfortable and comfortable engaging with marginalized groups.

The hero worship comes as Murphy praises Muhammad Ali for giving rise to a founding generation of high-achieving black Americans, which also includes Oprah, Michael Jordan and Barack Obama. More revealing moments come when Murphy talks about his troubled home life on Long Island (he lets slip that his first memory in life is of his parents fighting), the trauma of going from sexy comedian to smoldering sex symbol, and the media that pits him against Richard Pryor — a comedy star who already had his directing credits in the star-studded comedy Harlem Nights.

Wall, the Oscar-winning editor behind The Social Network and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, offers some psychology in his book “Being Eddie.” He has Murphy connect his habit of paying for funeral arrangements for his famous friends (Red Foxx, Rick James) to past problems accepting the deaths of his father and stepfather, which generally led to an aversion to funerals. His brother, comedian Charlie Murphy, who died suddenly of leukemia in 2017, did not attend the concert.

Cleverly, “Being Eddie” reuses some of the less hilarious excerpts from Charlie’s Chappelle Show stories to help complete the picture of Eddie – who generally shrugs off those epic stories about James and Prince as “just another night in my life.” Wall lets Murphy talk about his obsessive-compulsive disorder diagnosis, a comedic secret weapon that he credits with his prodigious powers of observation. But Wall doesn’t challenge Murphy, at least not on camera, when Murphy claims to have cured himself with his astonishing power of self-control.

The documentary also ignores other highlights of Murphy’s public life: the 1997 arrest of a trans prostitute who happened to be riding in his car during a traffic stop (the actor maintains he was merely a “good Samaritan”), his 14-day publicity marriage to producer Tracey Edmonds, and his initial rejection of the daughter he had with Spice Girl Mel B. Even more galling is that the documentary makes Mount Murphy return to SNL after turning down the show for decades due to jokes made at his expense without bringing in anyone who was part of that episode then (David Spade) or now (Lorne Michaels) to explain their side.

Murphy who was disgraced from the show that made him a household name was shown as his rock bottom career in being Eddie. But it’s hard to accept that premise when Murphy himself credits that moment with prompting him to change course to projects like Dreamgirls, which earned him an Oscar nomination (although he was ultimately frustrated by his insistence on doing Norbit as well); Shrek, one of the highest-grossing anime franchises of all time; and Professor Josey, which saw him elevate costumes and character acting to an impossible level. It turns out that Universal was so skeptical about his ability to play supporting characters in the film that he had him audition for every part of the Klump family.

It’s not until you near the end of the 103-minute “Being Eddie” that it becomes clear why Netflix continues to drag its feet. For a parting gift, the filmmakers present Murphy with two ventriloquist dummies designed to look like Pryor and Bill Cosby — an entire moment that stemmed from Murphy talking about what his stand-up show might look like if he returned to the stage. now. Enough teasing, already. Do it.