Rating: R
Genre:
Comedy
Theatrical Release: 12/18/1987(USA)
Release Date: 02/03/2009
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: English
Sound: DDS2.0
Run Time: 90 min
Flags: Not For Children, Adult Language, Adult Humor, Profanity
Distributor/Studio: Paramount
Filmed in front of a packed New York City crowd, the
concert film
Eddie Murphy: Raw presents the comedian (near the height of his popularity) performing his
standup material. The energetic and often extremely raunchy set begins with a series of impressions, most involving some celebrity becoming upset at
Murphy for unflattering jokes: a squeaky-voiced
Michael Jackson threatens to pummel
Murphy into the ground; an enraged
Mr. T is confused by
Murphy's verbal sleight of hand; and even paragon of calm
Bill Cosby loses his cool while chastising the comic for his dirty mouth. After some digressions finding humor in racial differences and other matters,
Murphy proceeds into the centerpiece of his act, a series of routines about contemporary relationships between men and women, including an extended bit about what life would be like were he to become married -- jokes that some have criticized as heavily misogynist. Finally,
Murphy concludes his set with an extended, comedic but sympathetic, reminiscence about his childhood and family life, a tone that matches that of the film's prologue -- a fictional re-creation of
Murphy, in his childhood, entertaining a family gathering with what turns out to be an inappropriately off-color joke.
~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
Long before he became a fixture in kiddy-friendly blockbusters and endless sequels,
Saturday Night Live alum
Eddie Murphy was simply a comedian. This 1987
concert film, shot at New York City's
Felt Forum, captures
Murphy at the apex of his fame -- and, coincidentally, of his powers as a
standup comedian. (Of course, he hasn't exactly been touring the comedy clubs since.) Already several years into what was then a consistently successful Hollywood career,
Murphy plays the superstar exceptionally well. Clad in purple leather and playing to an adoring crowd, he spends much of
Raw riffing about his recent arrival on the A-list. His routine about getting dogged out by
Bill Cosby (and grousing about it with
Richard Pryor) may seem designed to broadcast
Murphy's place in the pantheon of great black comedians. But it's also side-splittingly funny, as are many of the profane routines that follow. At the time of
Raw's release, many hands were wrung in the analysis of
Murphy's material as inherently racist, homophobic, and sexist. It's up to the viewer to decide whether those charges are true, especially in light of the generations of standups who have followed. Anyway, the litmus test of a
concert film isn't its political correctness, but rather its effectiveness.
Raw is, above all, a supremely effective
standup concert. Between the button-pushing, the scatological humor, and the Hollywood send-ups,
Murphy touches on all of his typical themes. But his gentler routines about middle-class family life are just as amusing. They also help round out the reputation of an artist too often dismissed for the commercial concessions of his later career.
Eddie Murphy the movie star may have sold out and never looked back, but
Eddie Murphy the comedian went out on top.
~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
;)
