You might even say cathartic, as the character becomes a stand-in for anyone who’s ever had a dream. There’s a lot of Eddie Murphy in Rudy Ray Moore and vice-versa, making for something magical, as the two dynamic personalities merge into one. Now, as then, to be a star you must buck the system, which is exactly what part-time comedian and full-time record store flunky Rudy Ray Moore determines to do once he brings his pioneering style of funny to the masses, first via stage and recordings and then the ultimate: film. The era is the mid-1970s, but it retains a relevance to a modern film industry tending to box non-whites into roles of domestics and menial laborers, both on- and off-screen. It’s about drive and having the fortitude to defy all odds in chasing a vision held by not just one man, but an equally ignored group of talents gathering the will to lift themselves up right along with him. Deeper down resides something even more terrific about guts, determination and a refusal to take “no” for an answer. The result is a smorgasbord of vulgarity, with F-bombs and euphemisms for male and female genitalia dominating a script by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski that’s pee-your-pants hilarious. And I’m not just talking about the 1975 Blaxploitation joint “Dolemite,” but another golden oldie in Murphy, a comedian whose career had faded into irrelevance until Brewer (“Hustle & Flow”) came along to resurrect the “Daddy Day Care” star by mercifully returning him to his R-rated roots. Well, “classic” might be too strong a word “legend” is closer to the truth. That’s the take away from Craig Brewer’s “Dolemite Is My Name,” a funny, foul-mouthed biopic in which the writers of “Ed Wood” serve up another helping of a delusional filmmaker casting reason to the wind in creating a cinema classic. Never underestimate the power of a dream - or the talent of the much-maligned Eddie Murphy.
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