The Pickup

Travis (Pete Davidson) is working as a guard for an armored transport company, and while at a bank, a women, Zoe, wants to show him a note. He thinks that is a hold up note, so he pulls his gun. She only wanted to date him and he hooks up with her. Russell (Eddie Murphy) wants that days run to be easy, to get to his 25th Wedding Anniversary dinner that night. And Russell is planing to leave his job, and they will start a B&B. But his boss has other ideas, and puts him on a terrible run, and worse, pairs him with Travis. Travis comes from a family of cops, but couldn't make the cut, so he is a guard. He is rather a goofball. Just when one gets tired of his stupid decisions, he makes a good one. While on their run, they get hijacked, and they figure they are going to be robbed, and then killed. Turns out the only thing Travis is good at is driving, so there are some interesting chase scenes, and those wanting the truck are very determined, and it was well planned out. A problem with this movie is that it is very uneven. Fun and interesting intermixed with dumb and stupid. Russell seems to be along for the ride. Travis seems either to act totally dense or simply out of his league. We do meet up with Zoe again, and that adds an interesting twist. A very lightweight movie that has its charms. One will not feel they wasted time watching it, nor would they want to watch it again to see if there are important things they missed.

Granted, when I stumbled upon this movie and opted to watch it, I didn't harbor the biggest of expectations, as Eddie Murphy haven't exactly been in top notch movies in recent years. But still, since it was a movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I had to check it out.

Writers Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider put together an enjoyable script and storyline. Sure, it was running on many generic tropes for a heist movie, but it still proved rather enjoyable.

The scene with the music in the van was a nice homage to some of Eddie Murphy's earlier classic movies.

The movie does have some familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Eddie Murphy, Eva Longoria, Pete Davidson, Ismael Cruz Cordova and Andrew Dice Clay. The acting performances in "The Pickup" were good.

There is a good amount of action throughout the course of the movie, which definitely helps to spruce up the narrative. It was nicely executed action sequences as well.

I was actually genuinely entertained throughout the course of the movie. It was like a trip back to the action comedies of the 1990s. This is a popcorn movie, so just lean back in the seat, munch on the snacks and enjoy the ride.

My rating of director Tim Story's 2025 movie "The Pickup" lands on a six out of ten stars.

There is nothing ground breaking here and that's fine. Not every movie is going to be an academy award winning movie.

What this is, is a very light hearted action movie that is heavy on comedy with a few brief moments of thrill and twists and turns but again nothing that hasn't been done before.

As long as you don't take it too seriously there is plenty enough to keep you entertained for 90 minutes.

A textbook example of wasted potential. 4.5/10

Eddie Murphy, once a comedic powerhouse, delivers a surprisingly average performance that feels like he's merely collecting a paycheck. The supporting cast fares even worse, with uniformly bad acting that makes you wonder how these scenes made it past the first take.

Director Tim Story seems unsure what movie he's making. Is it a heist caper like Ocean's Eleven? An action-comedy like Bad Boys or a Car chase flick like the F&F franchise? The film awkwardly straddles both genres without committing to either, resulting in a thriller that isn't thrilling and a comedy that isn't funny.

The story is paper-thin and absurdly silly, but not in an endearing way. Poor dialogue ensures that even potentially funny moments fall completely flat.

Murphy and Davidson's chemistry feels forced and unnatural throughout. What should have been a fun romp between two mismatched partners becomes a tedious exercise in mediocrity.

Skip this pickup - your time is better spent elsewhere.

The Pickup is another example of mindlessly entertaining content from a streaming service that's highly generic and designed to be forgotten about whilst being entertaining enough thanks to the over qualified stars who sustain it over the course of a thankfully concise run time. It's an action comedy that peaks within the first 30 minutes (which could've been the whole movie) but it still works in a predictable fashion.

Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson are a solid pairing who both get some good laughs with Davidson being the more hysterical one and Murphy generally playing it a little too straight. Keke Palmer's natural magnetism shines through even when she's given bland material like this. Unfortunately, Marshawn Lynch's undeniable comedic talents are criminally wasted in the very small role he's given which is a real shame.

It is a little frustrating to see director Tim Story following his best film to date with a bland streaming movie that looks just as visually flat as the rest and the film struggles to move from being comedy heavy to action heavy. However, there are also a couple of decent action sequences and the film has a bit of an energetic visual style interspersed throughout which delivers exposition in a slightly more interesting way.