"Dolemite Is My Name," starring Eddie Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore, an over-the-hill comedian who became an unlikely film star in the early 1970s, is many things: A comeback story whose lead actor is indeed making a comeback, a disco-dandy period-piece and an ebullient comedy with an irresistibly inspirational message.
It's also a sincere tribute from one African-American success story to another. Moore, who died in 2008, was a major influence on Murphy as a young comedian growing up on Long Island, and Murphy clearly feels a deep kinship with the character. In his first major film role in years, Murphy delivers a terrific performance: funny, sharp, poignant and full of love.
Dolemite is a folkloric figure, a kind of X-rated Stagger Lee whose exploits are recounted in rhyme. Moore is working in a Los Angeles record store when he hears a homeless man reeling off these prurient poems, and a light bulb goes off. Assembling a fantastic barf-green pimp-outfit (kudos to Ruth E. Carter for the eye-watering wardrobes), Moore becomes Dolemite on stage, and he's a hit. Homemade records are pressed and the Chitlin' Circuit beckons, but Moore isn't satisfied with being an underground Redd Foxx: He wants to make a movie.
