Great Moments In Colored Cinema: Sexual Chocolate

 

Believe it or not, there was a time when Eddie Murphy was considered to be a comedic genius. Before he was attempting to paint himself as a family friendly star with a slew of underwhelming bombs like “Norbit,”Meet Dave,” and “A Thousand Words,” Eddie was considered one of the hardest working and verbally vulgar comedians in the game. And he was great. Given, his reign was in the ‘80s, a time when the artist formally known and then later confirmed to be Prince was considered a rebel, “dope” actually meant drugs, and interracial dating was the social kiss of death. Regardless, Murphy was still ahead of his time. From doing classic standup performances to appearing in a number of blockbuster and cult classic movies, for a hot minute it seemed like Eddie Murphy was king of comedy.

 

Just look at the clip and you’ll see him cleverly play 3 different people in a single scene. You got Eddie as the Prince of Zamunda, Prince Akeem, witnessing himself as the Jheri curled rocking, bushy eye-browed, scruffy faced Randy Watson. Him and his band Sexual Chocolate, sing “The Greatest Love of All” off tune while pimping one of those mariachi looking suits that myself and countless other Latino boys have worn to girls Quinceaneras as kids. All these things are going on while he’s playing an old man who peeps Chocolate’s lack of game and dismisses his performance quicker than the Jewish community dismissed Mel Gibson’s apology. Even at the end of his show, while the crowd remains silent and dumbfounded by his performance, a defiant Watson still drops the mic like he just mastered the ceremony! This was one of those moments where Eddie Murphy was at his best: captivating and entertaining both visually and sonically… sort of.

 

 

While the theory of Eddie and Arsenio Hall – Woof! Woof! Woof! – having to play multiple roles due to the films tight budget is still up for debate, the results can’t be questioned. They killed it. Before the duo of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence showed you how bad boys roll, Eddie and Arsenio killed it. Before Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson became the Hollywood version of Laverne and Shirley, Eddie and Arsenio killed it. Before LeBron and D-Wade teamed up… well, you get what I’m driving at.

 

While classic Eddie Murphy movies like this are funnier and more original than 92% of the product Hollywood is crapping out now, one can’t help but ask, what happened to this genius known as Eddie Murphy? Why is Charlie Murphy the funnier and more in-demand comedian? Does Eddie ever plan on actually cussing in a movie again instead of trying to say less than 1000 words in one? If he really wants us to spend our very hard-earned-during-a-recession-money on his projects again without question, like we once did, then I have to ask him a single question he’s all too familiar with: “Eddie, what have you done for me lately?”

 

 

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