Meet Dave

Caught this at an advance preview, which sounds all glitzy and glamorous, but in reality still costs £6 admission, contains a complete lack of anything resembling a red carpet and has about as much chance of me rubbing shoulders with Kiera Knightly as shouting "Expecto Petronum!" would cause a bright light to explode from my wand. I've clearly carried this metaphor too far.......

Meet Dave is about...... You see I haven't thought this through. I've started trying to explain what the film's basic premise is, but I have no idea how to finish that sentence because it's so plainly bizarre. Bunch of tiny space people travel to Earth in a starship that looks human. Eddie Murphy plays the captain of the ship and the ship itself, Dave.

If I were a harsh man, I would review Meet Dave using the following sentence: Eddie Murphy, a man never afraid to work himself stupid playing several parts in a movie, reaches for new levels of insanity to play both the captain and the starship he commands.

One does get the vague impression that this is a film designed to promote a single joke. After years of seeing Murphy play as many characters as possible, as in the Norbit trailer "Eddie Murphy, Eddie Murphy and Eddie Murphy stars in Norbit!", Meet Dave is a chance to see Eddie Murphy in Eddie Murphy.

Most of the reviews online have started with phrases like "Mildly redeeming", "Another safe movie from Murphy" and "Better then Norbit", which in my eyes wouldn't be difficult. Norbit was, in every sense of the word, painfully unfunny to watch.

The concept is a pretty good one, but I left with the impression that the film had taken the safe route with every possibly joke about a bunch of tiny people living inside a person. Whereas Norbit was filmed well (apparently) but then butchered in the editing room, Meet Dave just feels like the script could have done with one more last minute polish.

Elizabeth Banks and Gabrielle Union star as the love interests of both big Dave and little Dave, which is phrase that sounds far dodgier than it did in my head.

Overall, the film panders too much to it's core audience, which I can only imagine are tweenie* kids. Any younger and the jokes would miss the target, any older and...well the jokes would miss the target. And that's a pretty narrow age bracket to aim a film at.

Sadly the whole set-up is almost completely let down by the acting of Ed Helms as "Number Two". While everyone else is very much playing it straight, Ed is hamming it up like his life ambition is to win a Razzie**.

Score: D+
Definitely one for the kids. Woody Allen's "Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Sex" already did every joke imaginable about tiny people living inside a person, and did it better.

OQ: I am Dave Ming-Cheng!

Plus points: Only one advert, but the usual number of trailers. Very much appreciated.

*As in "tweenager" - kids in the 11-14 age group. Not quite teenager. It's not a phrase I invented and I'm taking no responsibility for it.

**Exactly the opposite of an Oscar. The sort of award no actor wants to win. Categories include: Worst Actor, Worst Supporting Actor and Worst Excuse for a Horror Movie.