It’s not actually a completely terrible idea: a humanoid-looking spaceship infiltrates Earth people, but “his” responses are actually run by a tiny crew of aliens inside his body, who have the darnedest time figuring out the appropriate human behaviors.
A suitably warped approach from a talented filmmaker such as Spike Jonze or Tim Burton might be able to make something out of this. Alas, “Meet Dave” is not guided by such imaginative hands; this movie’s got the director of “Norbit” at the helm.
It’s also got “Norbit” himself, Eddie Murphy. Murphy plays both the spaceship and its tiny captain. The aliens have come to Earth in an attempt to save their own planet, and in the process they learn that the emotions of Earthlings are superior to their own robotlike lives.
When the spaceship is pressed to identify himself, his data banks come up with one of the world’s most popular names: Ming Chang. Appending “Dave” to the beginning of this makes it a little more believable.
Dave makes the acquaintance of a young widow (Elizabeth Banks) and her adolescent son (Austyn Myers); by a large stroke of luck, this lad just happens to be in possession of a meteorite that could save Dave’s planet.
Meanwhile, as Dave stumbles through his learning curve (sort of like “Starman” with less charm), so does the crew. Murphy adopts a quasi-British accent as the captain, Gabrielle Union smolders attractively, and Ed Helms tries to get something going with the stock villain.
One or two funny ideas flit by, such as the aliens’ mistaken notion that all Earthlings dress in white suits (based on a video transmission of “Fantasy Island”). There’s also a sweet scene where they learn about romantic metaphor from watching “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
But mostly you sit around and wait for Murphy to make something happen, the way he would make certain scenes from the “Nutty Professor” movies explode. I would say that even “Norbit” had some funny bits in it, if you got a couple of drinks in me.
But Murphy’s talent is constricted, rather than liberated, by these particular roles. He’s come a-cropper with science fiction before (remember “Pluto Nash”? Nobody else does, either), and it might be time to admit that for him, space travel and comedy don’t mix.
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