Murphy is likable and big-hearted in this story of cult 70s blaxploitation star Rudy Ray Moore’s rise from nightclub standup to the movies
The question of whether Eddie Murphy has got his mojo back – or if it had ever gone away – is probably beside the point, considering his richly enjoyable starring role in this true showbiz story about the eternal excitement of putting on the show right here.
Murphy plays Rudy Ray Moore, the singer, nightclub comic and proto-rapper who in 1975 produced and starred in the cult blaxploitation
comedy Dolemite, based on the outrageously obscene character he’d created for his standup act and bestselling LPs. The nearest Brit equivalent was probably Derek and Clive. With never-say-die attitude, Moore battles through his ailing career in its early days: the sometime singer and dancer has an epiphany on seeing a garrulous homeless guy reciting rhyming tales of a legendary character called Dolemite.