Director: Angus Wall
Stars: Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappelle, Jerry Seinfeld
Synopsis: Follows a comprehensive look at Eddie Murphy’s life and career.
I watched so many things in my youth. I was a latchkey kid so when I would come home from school I would do my homework, get some food, and sit in front of the TV. I took in just about everything that I was watching whether it was a movie, a TV show, etc. Comedy movies brought me so much happiness because laughter was the best medicine for any illness that you could have. Eddie Murphy was a staple in my household. My mom would tell me about his time on SNL and his first movie roles (48 Hours, Trading Places). As I grew up, I would watch his movies on cable tv and soak everything in like a sponge. The jokes were funny, the actors and actresses were sights to see, and the music compositions would always have my ears perked up with excitement. In Being Eddie we go down memory lane of Eddie’s time as a stand up comedian, his time on SNL, his movies, and even his personal life. These are pretty standard things that celebrities touch on in their documentaries but not all of them have had a more interesting and complex life as the one and only Eddie Murphy.
The documentary features some things about Eddie and his family that I didn’t know that much about. I didn’t know that his stepfather Vernon Lynch was a boxer. As this part of the documentary was playing I had one of those lightbulb moments. I said out loud, “Well that’s why he looked so natural playing a boxer in the movie, I Spy.” It’s satisfying when you get those unknown nuggets of information while watching a documentary. Eddie said that whenever he would get in trouble his punishment wouldn’t be a whooping. His punishment would be his TV getting taken away. I felt that so much because, unfortunately, TV was like a third parent to me. It wasn’t an uncommon thing to a child of the ‘90s/early ‘00s and having a parent that worked nights. Eddie’s rise to stardom was steady and mesmerizing to the normal person just living life. He only had a Plan A. I’ve always admired people that only have one plan in life and nothing else to fall back on. They are usually the ones that work SUPER hard so that things will work out. I’m more of a Plan B, maybe a Plan C type of guy.
Admittedly, I was coasting on a happy high while watching the documentary. Seeing Eddie spend time with his family, tell random jokes, and being honest about his early days in Hollywood was so rewarding. A lot of people don’t know how much he’s really done for the Black community, especially in the early days. He reached heights in his career that many of us could only dream of. He wasn’t afraid to put his family and friends in positions to better themselves and their own families. One of those main people was his big brother, Charlie Murphy. Their relationship was one of one. All that Charlie wanted to do was make sure that his brother was taken care of and happy. He started out doing security for Eddie. Years after, he began to collaborate with Eddie on screenplays. If you go through their IMDb pages you will see how much they accomplished together. Steel sharpens steel and the Murphy brothers crafted their own Hatori Hanso swords. Charlie passed away from leukemia in 2017. His death hit the world very hard but I cannot imagine how his family felt, especially Eddie. Charlie recorded a lot of interviews with the Chappelle’s Show crew and they implemented them in this documentary. It really felt like Charlie was still here and I hope that they know that that was truly a job well done on their part. There were a few things in the documentary that I think should’ve been discussed but these were sore subjects for him. Maybe he didn’t want to cast any negativity on what is supposed to be a positive thing for us to watch.
Seeing Eddie’s peers in the industry be so open about him and the impact he’s had on their lives and careers was so endearing. Everyone wants to be some sort of inspiration or a leader in a person’s life. Eddie has done both things and more for his family, his peers and his supporters. What other actor has played multiple characters in a lot of their movies and sat long hours in the makeup chair? Eddie Murphy. What other SNL alum hosted their own episode and left the whole world wanting more from them? Eddie Murphy is number one on that list. His upcoming projects include a George Clinton biopic and a Pink Panther reboot. Both of these projects sound like crowd pleasers and possibly award-winning. We’ll have to wait and see if these projects stick like hot grits or if they fall to the wayside like a bowl of spilled cereal.
