Meet Dave

Eddie Murphy’s latest ‘comedy’ sees him horribly miscast in dual roles as the eponymous man-sized spacecraft and its diminutive, logic-driven Captain. The only pleasure to be derived from watching Murphy these days comes from those rare moments when he gets the opportunity to let rip, to give us a glimpse of the old, untamed Hollywood rebel. But here, such opportunities are absent: as the ship, he’s robotic; as the Captain, he’s clipped and saddled with what might be a British accent.

Supporting players fare no better, particularly the hideous Pat Kilbane as an increasingly objectionable gay stereotype. The plot is near absent, the effects cheap – the filmmakers clearly fancy this as a successor to ‘Men in Black’, but it completely lacks that film’s charm or invention. Even for a high-concept, lowbrow summer release ‘Meet Dave’ is drab, shoddy work.