perni Review of The Adventures of Pluto Nash

The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002)

A financial disaster, but not the worst Eddie has to offer

[7 September 2003]

Ah, Eddie Murphy. Sometimes I wonder if he sits up at night and makes wishes on shooting stars, asking that he be transported to the 1980's where everything was rosy and right with the world (and his career). Because, as we all know, these past couple of years have not been good for the iconic comedian. Showtime tanked, I Spy tanked (mostly because it was a film adaptation of a show that no one remembered and was a poor rip-off of Owen Wilson's own Shanghai franchise), The Holy Man tanked, Daddy Day Care made money but was ripped to shreds by critics, and his only major success came with the release of Dreamworks' animated smash Shrek. But every actor has that one movie that they would like to forget, the one humiliating bomb that is the equivalent of a mutant cousin hiding in the basement, ready to rear its ugly, pillow shaped head at any moment. For Eddie, the deformed relative is The Adventures of Pluto Nash, which is now infamous for losing the most money of any feature film in history. I think the final cost of the film was in the ballpark of $90 million, but it was held from release for over two years before being quietly presented and withdrawn from theaters. The film's total gross? A paltry $2 million or so. Yeesh, talk about a giant misstep. Of course, being the bad movie patron that I am, I heard all about this movie's history, but didn't bother to investigate the actual film until yesterday, when I spotted a VHS copy at a Blockbuster Video sale for like three bucks. Surprisingly, and I say this without having seen Showtime or I Spy, this is not the worst movie Eddie has starred in, at least in my opinion. Sure the comedy is pretty stale, and Eddie is just going through the motions as Pluto Nash, but in the end my one question is why this had to take place on the moon. Aside from a handful of elements, there was no need for this movie to be set in space. The story has less to do with something about the moon and more about Godfather-type gangsters. It could have just as easily taken place on Earth in the future, in my opinion, and the filmmakers could have saved a nice chunk of cash in the process. And while the story is kind of yawn-inducing, the "surprise" twist had me groaning. Let me paint the picture here: There's an episode of the hilarious show Family Guy where the main character Peter reminisces about the time his wife Louis killed his evil twin. Louis is then shown aiming a pistol at two Peters, both of which are saying stuff like, "Shoot him, Louis! I'm the real Peter!" and, "Louis, don't you know your own husband? Shoot him!" The joke was great because it captured an archaic movie cliche so perfectly, so it really made me wince to see such an old device being used in Pluto Nash. There is actually a point in the film where Eddie and his evil clone are trying to convince someone to shoot their opponent. "I'm the real Pluto Nash! Shoot him!" "No, he's lieing! Don't shoot me, he's the clone!" Oh brother! And is it just me, or do all of the "futuristic" landscapes and gizmos look like somethin out of Back To The Future Part II? Considering that movie came out over 10 years ago, this is not a good thing. But like I said before, this isn't at all painful to watch and goes by pretty fast for a mob movie set IN SPACE. Sheesh. 2/4 stars