Dolemite Is My Name (2019)

Directed by: Craig Brewer | 118 minutes | biography, comedy | Actors: Eddie Murphy, Keegan-Michael Key, Mike Epps, Craig Robinson, Tituss Burgess, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Kodi Smith-McPhee, Snoop Dogg, Ron Cephas Jones, Barry Shabaka Henley, TI, Luenell, Tasha Smith, Wesley Snipes Chris Rock, Aleksandar Filimonovic, Ivo Nandi, Michael Peter Bolus, Kazy Tauginas

Dolemite is my name, and fucking up motherfuckers is my game!

One squirrel is not the other. Rudy Ray Moore dabbles in the Los Angeles entertainment scene in the mid-1970s. For centuries, he’s been trying to make it, sometimes as a singer, then as a comedian. Good luck hey. Then he meets a bunch of bums, African Americans just like him. The way these men tell their tall tales – rhythmically and roughly poetically – inspires him to create the character Dolemite. Moore’s alter ego is a rhyming and rapping stand-up comedian, half foul-mouthed prophet, half dandy pimp.

In the biographical comedy ‘Dolemite is my Name’ we follow the ups and downs of this special artist. From the bizarre first appearances and the recording and release of these gigs, to the even more idiotic first steps that Dolemite takes in the film world. The film our hero wants to make is of course about his alter ego, and that film (somewhere between B and C film) threatens to become a cult classic too. As said, one free-range is not the other.

The advantage of a biographical film like ‘Dolemite is my Name’ is that the title person himself guarantees success. You rarely see a character like Dolemite, and it is also inevitable that such a type breaks up everywhere he goes. The greatest strength is in the first part of the film, when (still) Rudy Ray Moore finds his calling through trial and error. The second part, about the making of Dolemite’s film debut, follows a more well-trodden path. We have often seen how well-meaning amateurs make a film, as in the comparable ‘The Disaster Artist’. Which doesn’t make it any less funny, by the way.

That bit of lack of originality is the only thing you can fault this comedy. The era of the 1970s is beautiful, including wonderful soul music and old-fashioned record stores. The cast features many big names, with Eddie Murphy and Wesley Snipes as the most famous, and old rapper Snoop Dog as the most notable. The humor is also striking. It’s drier and a little less noisy than you’d expect. In the case of a biographical comedy, that’s a good choice. Like this entire movie is full of motherfucking good choices.