MR CHURCH
Directed by Bruce Beresford
Screenplay by Susan McMartin
Starring Eddie Murphy; Britt Robertson; and Natascha McHelhone
It has been four years since Eddie Murphy has been in a film. He picked a totally non-Eddie Murphy type film to come back in.
Mr Church is well acted with Eddie Murphy giving a wonderful soft performance as Mr Church.
The film also has Britt Robertson, and if you read my past blogs you know I think she is an underrated actress. Here In Mr Church she really shines playing the part of Charlie the daughter Mr Church ends up winning over. You just flat out love her character. She is very strong but really does not know it.
We also have a very good small performance from Natascha McElhone as Charlie's ill mother Marie. She does not play the part with sadness, she plays it with strength and honor.
So we have good performances. Now how about the script?
I read on line a lot of people thought it was going to be like driving Miss Daisy, and they said pass. No. Far from it. In fact if I can remember right Mr Church's color was not even an issue in the film. He was just treated or excepted as the caring outsider.
The problem with the script is that it is all over the place. Do not get me wrong, it is a really good movie and a little different then most films out there. Here is what is in this film:
Ill Mom
A stranger...cook
A bus companion who has a sad past
A friend who is poor
A friend is rich (played by Lucy Fry who is awful...just plain awful in the part)
A pregnancy
A boyfriend
A college student
A bar named Jelly something.
An alcoholic maybe
An abusive father.
See!! It is a lot. Way too many story lines. We know a lot about Charlie which is fine. However it is annoying how much they hide the life of Mr Church. Then at the end we get a reveal which falls like a feather. It was a No Crap moment. The reveal was...okay...we figured that. They could have dropped some story lines and gave us more of Mr Church's life and cut out the boring big reveal.
3 stars put of 5 for Mr Church. A sweet story. Well acted. However it needed a rewrite and edit.
Welcome back Eddie Murphy, great return however it may be too soft of a part for award season.
From the shadows as always thanks for your time.
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