(Photo by Netflix)
Eddie Murphy’s movie career came roaring out of the gate in the early ’80s, with three yearly successive Certified Fresh classics in a row: 48 HRS, Trading Places, and Beverly Hills Cop. His presence represented a shake-up in the comedy status quo: Provocative jokes, tough action, and even some social commentary. Combined with his other seminal ’80s movie, Coming to America, Murphy was the king of American comedy. And if you needed even more raw (literally) material, you could turn to his hard-hitting stand-up movies.
Harlem Nights was a highlight in his immediate post-America career, if only in having Murphy in the director’s chair, and luring Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx into the same movie. But it was the softening of Murphy’s image that propelled him into the blockbuster stage of his career with The Nutty Professor, where he performs seven separate roles. Along with roles in Mulan, Dr. Dolittle, and Shrek, suddenly every kid out there knew his name. (The Golden Child apparently had not worked.) In-between, Murphy was still able to put out more adult-oriented movies like Bowfinger and Life.
But the cracks began to show with The Adventures of Pluto Nash, one of the more notorious bombs in Hollywood history, along with The Haunted Mansion and Daddy Day Care, where audiences slowly started to turn on his family material (the critics were already out). A Best Supporting Actor Oscar nom for Dreamgirls in 2006 was quickly overshadowed by the pile-up disasters of Norbit, Meet Dave, Imagine That, and A Thousand Words. Murphy peaced out from filmmaking until a time audiences and critics would be more appreciative of his talents, hopefully with the movies to back it up.
It seemed like that moment might have been four years later with 2016’s Mr. Church. Nah, nobody saw it. Instead, the true comeback would hit in 2019: Dolemite Is My Name, where he plays bold and brash blaxploitation legend Rudy Ray Moore, and for which he received the most glowing reviews of his career. He’s been updating past glories with respectable results, like Coming 2 America and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. Now, we’re ranking all Eddie Murphy movies by Tomatometer!
#1
Adjusted Score: 109218%
Critics Consensus: In dramatizing Rudy Ray Moore’s stranger-than-fiction story, Eddie Murphy makes Dolemite Is My Name just as bold, brash, and ultimately hard to resist as its subject.
#2
Adjusted Score: 97014%
Critics Consensus: Marking an auspicious feature film debut for Eddie Murphy, 48 Hrs. is a briskly paced action comedy that succeeds largely due to the outstanding chemistry between its two leads.
#3
Adjusted Score: 97051%
Critics Consensus: It may not be as fresh as the original, but topical humor and colorful secondary characters make Shrek 2 a winner in its own right.
#4
Adjusted Score: 95849%
Critics Consensus: While simultaneously embracing and subverting fairy tales, the irreverent Shrek also manages to tweak Disney’s nose, provide a moral message to children, and offer viewers a funny, fast-paced ride.
#5
Adjusted Score: 94154%
Critics Consensus: Featuring deft interplay between Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd, Trading Places is an immensely appealing social satire.
#6
Adjusted Score: 91090%
Critics Consensus: Exploring themes of family duty and honor, Mulan breaks new ground as a Disney film, while still bringing vibrant animation and sprightly characters to the screen.
#7
Adjusted Score: 86667%
Critics Consensus: The buddy cop movie continues its evolution unabated with this Eddie Murphy vehicle that’s fast, furious, and funny.
#8
Adjusted Score: 86476%
Critics Consensus: A witty commentary on modern film-making, with enough jokes to keep it entertaining throughout.
#9
Adjusted Score: 87571%
Critics Consensus: Dreamgirls‘ simple characters and plot hardly detract from the movie’s real feats: the electrifying performances and the dazzling musical numbers.
#10
Adjusted Score: 77564%
Critics Consensus: Eddie Murphy was in full control at this point, starkly evident in Coming to America‘s John Landis’ coasting direction.
#11
Adjusted Score: 74865%
Critics Consensus: Tower Heist is a true Brett Ratner joint: little brains to this caper, but it’s fun fluff, exciting to watch, and showcases a welcome return to form for Eddie Murphy.
#12
Adjusted Score: 76537%
Critics Consensus: Content to let a very game Eddie Murphy bring all the heat, the fourth Beverly Hills Cop coasts on nostalgia but marks a welcome return for Axel Foley.
#13
Adjusted Score: 68590%
Critics Consensus: The Nutty Professor falls back on juvenile humor eagerly and often, but Eddie Murphy’s consistently funny work in dual roles means more for audiences to love.
#14
Adjusted Score: 64930%
Critics Consensus: While not without its moments, Shrek Forever After too often feels like a rote rehashing of the franchise’s earlier entries.
#15
Adjusted Score: 54322%
Critics Consensus: Entertaining if not over-the-top humor from a solid comic duo provides plenty of laughs.
#16
Adjusted Score: 61523%
Critics Consensus: Decades after its predecessor joked about the fine line between love and nausea, Coming 2 America reminds audiences that there’s an equally fine line between sequel and retread.
#17
Adjusted Score: 52340%
Critics Consensus: Boomerang injects some fresh color into the corporate rom-com formula, but the frothy fun is undercut by off-putting gender dynamics and misjudged gags.
#18
Adjusted Score: 51173%
Critics Consensus: Eddie Murphy remains appealing as the wisecracking Axel Foley, but Beverly Hills Cop II doesn’t take him — or the viewer — anywhere new enough to justify a sequel.
#19
Adjusted Score: 44640%
Critics Consensus: Doctor Dolittle finds some mirth in the novelty of wisecracking critters, but this family feature’s treacly tone is made queasy by a reliance on scatological gags that undercut the intended warmth.
#20
Adjusted Score: 50430%
Critics Consensus: Shrek the Third has pop culture potshots galore, but at the expense of the heart, charm, and wit that made the first two Shreks classics.
#21
Adjusted Score: 44445%
Critics Consensus: Although there are laughs to be had in Dr. Dolittle 2, its preoccupation with toilet humor and Murphy’s restrained performance makes this a missed opportunity.
#22
Adjusted Score: 45300%
Critics Consensus: Despite a promising turn by newcomer Yara Shahidi, Imagine That is another pedestrian family comedy that squanders Eddie Murphy’s comedic talents.
#23
Adjusted Score: 47007%
Critics Consensus: You People has an outstanding cast and plenty of comedic potential — both mostly wasted on a picture that dithers between social commentary and romantic comedy without fully committing to either.
#24
Adjusted Score: 31218%
Critics Consensus: Daddy Day Care does its job of babysitting the tots. Anyone older will probably be bored.
#25
Adjusted Score: 30094%
Critics Consensus: While Eddie Murphy is still hilarious as the entire Klump family, the movie falls apart because of uneven pacing, a poor script, and skits that rely on being gross rather than funny.
#26
Adjusted Score: 28886%
Critics Consensus: An all-star comedy lineup is wasted on a paper-thin plot and painfully clunky dialogue.
#27
Adjusted Score: 28786%
Critics Consensus: Showtime starts out as a promising satire of the buddy cop genre. Unfortunately, it ends up becoming the type of movies it is satirizing.
#28
Adjusted Score: 24691%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#29
Adjusted Score: 23593%
Critics Consensus: Easy gags and slack direction drag this occasionally clever alien-out-of-planet comedy down to unimaginative lows.
#30
Adjusted Score: 21377%
Critics Consensus: Even the return of Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte, and director Walter Hill can’t hide the lazy, patchwork quality of Another 48 Hrs.
#31
Adjusted Score: 19253%
Critics Consensus: Insipid and mirthless, I-Spy bares little resemblance to the TV series that inspired it.
#32
Adjusted Score: 17656%
Critics Consensus: Neither scary nor funny, The Haunted Mansion is as lifeless as the ghosts in the movie.
#33
Adjusted Score: 13615%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#34
Adjusted Score: 14500%
Critics Consensus: Cloying and unfunny, Holy Man wastes the repartee between Eddie Murphy and Jeff Goldblum on the gospel of toothless satire and unearned sentimentality.
#35
Adjusted Score: 12970%
Critics Consensus: Neither scary nor very funny, this misguided effort never lives up to its premise.
#36
Adjusted Score: 14754%
Critics Consensus: Despite being set at an amusement park, Beverly Hills Cop III forgets to have any fun as it churns out uninspired violence and witless gags, with an uncharacteristically lethargic Eddie Murphy not helping matters.
#37
Adjusted Score: 13471%
Critics Consensus: Coming off his Oscar-nominated performance in Dreamgirls, the talented-but-inconsistent Eddie Murphy plays three roles in Norbit, a cruel, crass, stereotype-filled comedy that’s more depressing than funny.
#38
Adjusted Score: 7541%
Critics Consensus: The Adventures of Pluto Nash is neither adventurous nor funny, and Eddie Murphy is on autopilot in this notorious box office bomb.
#39
Adjusted Score: 1991%
Critics Consensus: Dated jokes (A Thousand Words was shot in 2008) and removing Eddie Murphy’s voice — his greatest comedic asset — dooms this painful mess from the start.