The Pickup

The Pickup has enough action and jokes to last the full 90 minutes, it has all the attributes but falls short in the reality department. Enjoyable well acted but in the end the inevitable ending lacks like most comedic actions a worthwhile ending. Enjoyable but only just. Eddie Murphy plays a strong part and is the glue for the film. It has Beverly Hill Cop remnants.

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.

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.

I just watched The Pickup on Amazon Prime.

This is as generic and forgettable as they come. None of the very talented cast have any chemistry, the writing is awful, certain parts of the plot don't make any sense and despite a ticking clock, there is a real lack of urgency. It also features a pet gate of mine in modern movies, fake CGI fire

Eddie Murphy is foul mouthed, but it feels like he is phoning it in, his banter scenes with Pete Davidson lack energy. Speaking of Davidson (who I liked in Meet Cute), he was really annoying in the first 20 minutes or so, but I guess that was the point. He did make me laugh on a couple of occasions though.

Keke Palmer is attractive but her character is cardboard and I don't buy her as a bad ass!! It's always good to see Eva Longoria too, but she is criminally underused.

It's a little over 90 minutes, so it does not outstay its welcome. There is a nice Beverly Hills Cop reference, that made me laugh and the highjack scene was good, with a good use of exploding dye packs.

Murphy deserves better than a pay check job like this. He said he was retiring at 50, and he stuck to it, before coming out of retirement to make Mr. Church in 2016. I said in my review of that movie, if he came out of retirement every couple of years, to make a really good movie like that, I'd be happy!!

Since then I've only really liked Dolomite Is My Name. Coming 2 America was a let down, You People was disappointing, given its cast, I didn't like Candy Cane Lane and Axel F was just okay. This sadly continues the trend of Eddie Murphy movies I will never revisit again.