Eddie Murphy in “Being Eddie.” Courtesy of Netflix
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Rarely does Eddie Murphy sit down for in-depth interviews these days, much less invite the general public into his mansion home to peel back the curtain on his life. That’s why many were delighted to hear that the reclusive “Raw” comedian is finally the subject of a long-overdue documentary that does just that in Netflix’s “Being Eddie.”
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For the first time, the film, which arrived Nov. 12, shows Murphy looking back on his unprecedented career in entertainment, recalling his meteoric rise from a “Saturday Night Live” breakout to a stand-up superstar to a box-office sensation that delivered all-time classics across several decades.
Although the doc is as intimate as a 103-minute runtime allows to recap a nearly 50-year journey, “Being Eddie” is still a gratifying look at how one man — a Black man in Hollywood at that — reached the upper echelons of fame and success and lived long enough to tell his own story, even if it’s a truncated version.
The documentary begins by recalling Murphy’s childhood and start in comedy before turning into a highlight reel of his iconic filmography. In between, friends and peers like Arsenio Hall, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Dave Chappelle, Jamie Foxx, Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Hart, Pete Davidson, Tracy Morgan and more all appear as talking heads to fill in their own stories of the comedic legend.
But “Being Eddie” works best when it allows Murphy just to be his raw, honest, funny self on his own (I still can’t get over him saying “Ridiculousness” is “the best show on TV”), even better when he’s not.
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In one touching scene, he addresses the passing of his big brother, Charlie Murphy, and talks about his views on death and grief — “I just touch little memories. I don’t be going and wallowing in it.” In another, he explains why he rejects labels like “stand-up comedian,” “actor” and “musician” — “I’m an artist who can express hisself a bunch of different ways.”
At one point, Murphy unearths a now-viral revelation about the time he once called out the academy for failing to recognize Black actors during the 1988 Oscars ceremony. And to his shock, as he recalled, “The next day, it was like I didn’t say anything … There was no coverage of me. There was no mention that I said that. It was like I wasn’t at the Oscars.”
These are the moments I tuned in for; too bad there are only a few like them in “Being Eddie.” A lot of what the documentary offers is already public knowledge, so it doesn’t feel like we’re learning a lot of new information about Murphy. Even the insight about some of his classic films sounds regurgitated from other sources.
But, thankfully, the film still feels like somewhat of a decent portrait of Murphy’s life, or at least his professional life. Many viewers seem to agree as well:
In less than two hours, “Being Eddie” proves how and why Murphy became a star in a league of his own.
Still, I’d like to think a multipart docuseries might’ve done his complete story a bit more justice. The documentary only left me wanting to know more, but I guess that’s also a testament to Murphy’s career.
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Even after all he’s given us over the years, we just can’t get enough.
“Being Eddie” is streaming on Netflix.
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