It's 1971 Los Angeles. One morning, Charlotte "Charlie" Brooks finds a black stranger cooking breakfast for her and her mother (Natascha McElhone). She's not happy and distrusts him. What she doesn't know is that the stranger is Mr. Church (Eddie Murphy). He's been hired by her mother's late rich boyfriend to cook for six months and her mother has that time left with her hidden breast cancer. Six years later, Charlie (Britt Robertson)'s mother is still hanging on and Mr. Church is still cooking for the family.
Eddie's last movie "A Thousand Words" is fine. He may have changed over the years but he never lost his inner charisma. It's well within him to play Mr. Church although I would have wanted him to be less the magical negro in the beginning. It may be the intention to start the movie that way but I don't think that intention serves the movie well. The magical reality continues with the drunken homeless guy but it feels like a literary creation. He's the magical drunk. Well, I guess Mr. Church is also a magical drunk. It's the type of movie where everybody returns later in the movie. If the movie could cut out some of the magical thinking, it could become more flesh and blood. The reality rather than magic would be even more powerful.
Eddie's last movie "A Thousand Words" is fine. He may have changed over the years but he never lost his inner charisma. It's well within him to play Mr. Church although I would have wanted him to be less the magical negro in the beginning. It may be the intention to start the movie that way but I don't think that intention serves the movie well. The magical reality continues with the drunken homeless guy but it feels like a literary creation. He's the magical drunk. Well, I guess Mr. Church is also a magical drunk. It's the type of movie where everybody returns later in the movie. If the movie could cut out some of the magical thinking, it could become more flesh and blood. The reality rather than magic would be even more powerful.