If you’re not familiar with the greatness that was Rudy Ray Moore, and his legendary movie DOLEMITE, it’s understandable as some missed it in 1975, though in recent years the Blaxploitation classic has seen a bit of afterlife thanks to popular parody movies like BLACK DYNAMITE. Moore seemed to come out of nowhere for many, and part of that was his own ingenious idea of making himself into a character, complete with a unique name. The movie DOLEMITE IS MY NAME attempts to pull back the curtain on Moore’s rise to fame, albeit in a humorous way, and Eddie Murphy seems ever-so-perfectly cast in the lead here. The cast also includes Tituss Burgess, Craig Robinson, Mike Epps, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Keegan-Michael Key, Snoop Dogg, and Wesley Snipes. Take a look at the first trailer and tell us your thoughts in the comments.
Stung by a string of showbiz failures, floundering comedian Rudy Ray Moore (Academy Award nominee Eddie Murphy) has an epiphany that turns him into a word-of-mouth sensation: step onstage as someone else. Borrowing from the street mythology of 1970s Los Angeles, Moore assumes the persona of Dolemite, a pimp with a cane and an arsenal of obscene fables. However, his ambitions exceed selling bootleg records deemed too racy for mainstream radio stations to play. Moore convinces a social justice-minded dramatist (Keegan-Michael Key) to write his alter ego a film, incorporating kung fu, car chases, and Lady Reed (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), an ex-backup singer who becomes his unexpected comedic foil. Despite clashing with his pretentious director, D’Urville Martin (Wesley Snipes), and countless production hurdles at their studio in the dilapidated Dunbar Hotel, Moore’s Dolemite becomes a runaway box office smash and a defining movie of the Blaxploitation era.