Screening Room: Meet Dave

Comedy. USA, Dir. Brian Robbins with Eddie Murphy, Elizabeth Banks and Gabrielle Union

The gimmick of Eddie Murphy's latest star vehicle is that he plays a vehicle himself- a human-shaped spaceship operated by miniature aliens visiting New York City.

In a typical Murphy-esque farce, the actor plays both Dave, the spaceship, and the captain of the alien crew. The smaller Murphy learns about human life as he travels along with his overgrown doppelganger, but it all takes a turn for the worse the moment an attractive woman comes into the picture.

While the film is worth a few laughs, these quickly shift to groans as it nosedives into a ménage of clichés and cheap gags.  Meet Dave is, regrettably, not Murphy's most winning performance.