A Thousand Words
Release Date:
March 9, 2012
On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 153/169 |
Max Braden |
It's too bad - Murphy is competent...if he were trying to impress a toddler. Plus he gets to cheat the rules. |
Eddie Murphy is not a proud man. If he were, at some point during his career, he would have developed the ability to decline these humiliating projects that are obvious box office disasters waiting to happen. Given the existence of Imagine That or Dave or The Adventures of Pluto Nash or Showtime or Holy Man or Vampire in Brooklyn or Best Defense or…how many of these did I have to do for you to get the point? Eddie Murphy has provided arguably the worst bang for the buck of any actor in the history of the industry. No one blows up as famously or on such a grand scale as him. And A Thousand Words appears to be more of the same.
The movie is ostensibly a Liar Liar ripoff. Eddie Murphy portrays a jerk (that’ll be a stretch) who is cursed in unusual fashion. The rest of Murphy’s existence is limited to 1,000 words. After he speaks the 1000th, he will die. This forces him to become laconic and learn a life lesson about fast talking and lies. Presumably, hijinks ensue. Actually, given Murphy’s track record, it is safer to assume that no hijinks ensue and that critics absolutely revile this project. I love co-stars Kerry Washington, Cliff Curtis and Allison Janney so I wish I had better news but…look at the list of box office bombs above. Those studios who do not learn from history are doomed to repeated financial failure by working with Eddie Murphy. (David Mumpower/BOP)
