Direction: Craig Brewer
Country: USA
Completely free of inhibitions and set to work at fast speeds, Dolemite is My Name is a facetious representation of the Blaxploitation cinema that emerged in the United States in the 1970’s. The biographical comedy stars an alive-and-kicking Eddie Murphy as the real-life title character, a comedian and ambitious go-getter whose real name was Rudy Ray Moore. Having exchanged his native Arkansas for L.A. to become a successful artist, Moore is not so thrilled with his big plans turned small life. That’s when a big idea comes up: to steal the rhyming Afro-American folklore material of the roofless Ricco (Ron Cephas Jones), polish it, and then create his own show.
Still feeling unfulfilled after the commercial success of his comedy records, Moore looks further and extends his ambitions to cinema. He acts for the very first time alongside his protégée Lady Reed (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) and under the direction of actor D'Urville Martin (Wesley Snipes), a stoned dude whose i-don’t-give-a-shit attitude has never discouraged him from pursuing his goals. The pimp character Dolemite is all about titties, wild action, and maladroit kung fu. Snoop Dogg and Chris Rock also appear in the film, playing small parts.
Director Craig Brewer possessed the right mindset to make this work, even when pushing the film into the excesses of its bravado. He creates a colorful frappé of successful gags and funny situations, and often employs Murphy’s black vernacular as a laugh inducer, pulling punchy satirical notes to the point of almost reaching the absurdity. The writing credits go to the team Scott Alexander/Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood; The People vs. Larry Flint).
One can’t pretend that this Dolemite doesn't incorporates clichés, but we also can’t deny it’s an extremely entertaining exercise and an uplifting reference to this particular side of the African-American filmmaking culture.
