‘Being Eddie’ lifts the veil on one of America’s top comedians: 9 takeaways from the documentary
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Eddie Murphy has solidly been established as Hollywood royalty after a decades-long career stretching from “Saturday Night Live” to “The Nutty Professor” to “Dreamgirls” and beyond.
A key hallmark of Murphy’s status is his voluminous gallery of offbeat characters — an impeccably attired prison convict, a clumsy professor, a wisecracking donkey, an elderly Jewish man and even an obese, abusive wife.
In Netflix’s “Being Eddie,” now streaming, Murphy lifts the veil on the persona he feels the closest to — Eddie Murphy.
Directed by Angus Wall (an executive producer of “The Greatest Night in Pop”), the documentary traces the meteoric rise and triumphs of Murphy, who seldom grants interviews and is fiercely private about his creative process and personal life.
With his trademark humor and probing insight, the entertainer offers candid perspective of his trajectory from a kid in New Jersey performing stand-up to joining “Saturday Night Live” right out of high school, his string of hit films (“48 Hrs.,” “Trading Places,” “Eddie Murphy Raw”) and his transition from foul-mouthed provocateur to family-friendly films.
Eddie Murphy, left, with his brothers Vernon Lynch and Charlie Murphy.
(Photo from Eddie Murphy / Netflix)
He also addresses some of his misfires (“Vampire in Brooklyn”), and throws more than a little shade at “Saturday Night Live” and the Academy Awards (“I haven’t gotten an Oscar, and I’ve done everything”).
The film is largely set at Murphy’s castle-like estate, where he’s seen hanging out with his 10 children and second wife, Paige Butcher. (“My legacy is my children, not what I did at work,” he says. “My kids are the center of my life. It’s all about them… If you put your family first, you will never make a bad decision.”) Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Kevin Hart and Pete Davidson are among the numerous entertainers who comment on Murphy’s influence on popular culture.
The following are some of the more fascinating takeaways from “Being Eddie.”
