OK - there's good news and bad news. First the good news. This movie is a LOT of fun. I had a couple of huge huge huge laughs with this one. And they come from an obvious place and a couple perhaps not so obvious. The obvious - Eddie Murphy is fantastic, and he steals some scenes. He doesn't, however, steal the movie; this truly is ensemble work. Téa Leoni and Gabourey Sidibe are hilarious. Téa is only given one scene to really work with, but it's a great scene. Gabourey has more fun with her character, and she's good. I look forward to seeing her in more films.
Which brings me to the bad news: this could have been better. The goal here was to be a boneheaded version of Ocean's Eleven. Well, the movie should have been more raucous and used its people more effectively. Eddie is great, but the gals above could have done a lot more. Ben Stiller played a straight man - what the fuck? Matthew Broderick and Casey Affleck were both too tame, playing nebbish type chicken shits. If this movie had thrown in some Hangover type nuttiness it would have reached stratospheric heights.
The NYT (I think A.O. Scott) was disturbed by the stereotype of Eddie's character and the plot holes. Who gives a shit about plot holes? Is there reality in the movies? Especially in heist films? (Or horror, or romantic comedies....and on and on.) I don't care about the reality part. And I found every character to be a stereotype, but not necessarily used effectively. By not pushing the envelope, there were scenes that stalled a bit, dialogue that seemed forced.
But the upshot - this is fun. Enjoy yourself. And watch for the improv scene between Gabourey and Eddie.
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