I remember watching Dolemite is My Name back in January and being rather impressed with the idea of Dolemite. Here was a movie put together by an ambitious guy who just wanted to make a movie and make people laugh. Rudy Ray Moore essentially tried to compensate with his lack of knowledge or money with a refusal to quit. It was an infectious sort of portrait, a labor of love for Eddie Murphy, and something that made me want to actually find and check out the original Dolemite.
And then I found it.
The movie opens with Dolemite (Moore) in prison. He’s summoned to the warden’s office where he learns due to the dilligence of his friend Queen Bee (Moore’s pal Lady Reed), the warden now believes Dolemite was framed. Since crime and drug use didn’t go down after Dolemite was tossed in prison for crimes he says he was framed for, will he be willing to go undercover and find the real culprit? The top suspect is Dolemite’s longtime enemy Willie Green (D’Urville Martin, who also directed). Will Dolemite go out with only a few people aware he’s working for the law this time and find the crooked cops working with Willie to do…whatever it is he’s doing? You know, general crimes.
Dolemite agrees and from there, well, he does the sorts of things Dolemite routinely does. That involves hanging out with his loyal female cadre, all of whom are experts in karate, and getting back his club, now in the hands of Willie Green. There’s some police harassment, martial arts, massage parlors with topless women, and Dolemite gets laid more than once. And, every so often, you might see the boom mic. In the end, Dolemite’s enemies meet their ends and…I guess everything works out for Dolemite.
So, Moore was a comedian by profession and Dolemite was his best known stage persona, a larger-than-life flamboyant criminal type who ruled the streets through his sheer badassery. Is the movie funny? Well, I didn’t really laugh, but Moore has a lot of charm to get past the fact he isn’t much of an actor and some of his karate kicks clearly never connect. The movie actually takes time out from what’s going on a couple times for him to launch into what sounds like his stand-up, and I can see the man’s appeal. As for the comedy, this movie could just as easily be played straight with a more competent cast and crew than it was, but I can’t say I didn’t like what I saw. The fact that Moore, a man who clearly isn’t in the best shape, can somehow be both a ladies man and a martial arts master is actually rather absurd on the surface, but that’s part of the appeal.
I should probably note that, as much as Eddie Murphy is obviously a fan, he didn’t go for the same level of recreation in Dolemite is My Name as James Franco did for Tommy Wiseau and The Room in The Disaster Artist. Murphy’s act does share some similarities with Moore’s, but not that much. Murphy was clearly paying an homage. Franco is doing that plus somehow trying to exactly imitate the original. That said, if the story behind the creation of Dolemite is at all accurate as Murphy’s movie portrayed it, then that shows Moore was a man who had a way of getting things done, and for that at least, he has quite a bit in common with his most famous character.
Grade: C+. It’s not a bad movie, but unless you’re really into this sort of thing, I wouldn’t call it required viewing. It’s fun, but not for everyone.
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