Sometimes I like Eddie Murphy; sometimes he just irritates me. I'll grant that in "A Thousand Words" I liked him. This is a pretty low-key comedy, and Eddie's likable enough in it as Jack McCall. It's amusing at times, and it even has a show stealing scene when Clark Duke, playing McCall's intern Aaron Wiseberger completely dominates a scene where he basically takes on McCall's personality in a meeting with some big time publishers.
McCall is a frenetic character - a fast paced, fast moving, fast talking type of guy who rushes his way through life. I guess the point of the movie is teaching him to slow down and learn to enjoy life more, but the journey was a strange and sometimes mind boggling one. The introduction of Dr. Sinja (Cliff Curtis) for example. Sinja was a kind of new age, spiritual guru type - and also totally unnecessary really in that he resolves nothing. The basic mystery is around a strange tree that suddenly grew in McCall's backyard. Every time McCall says a word, the tree drops a leaf, and once all the leaves are gone McCall is going to die because he's somehow linked to the tree. I'm not sure how it is that McCall will die once all the leaves fall - trees don't die just because their leaves fall off!) but apparently he will. And I have to confess that I really just didn't get the journey McCall was travelling.
Murphy was fine. I just found the story quite lacking, but I will have to give it credit for a handful of funny scenes. Overall, though, I wasn't really that into this. (4/10)
McCall is a frenetic character - a fast paced, fast moving, fast talking type of guy who rushes his way through life. I guess the point of the movie is teaching him to slow down and learn to enjoy life more, but the journey was a strange and sometimes mind boggling one. The introduction of Dr. Sinja (Cliff Curtis) for example. Sinja was a kind of new age, spiritual guru type - and also totally unnecessary really in that he resolves nothing. The basic mystery is around a strange tree that suddenly grew in McCall's backyard. Every time McCall says a word, the tree drops a leaf, and once all the leaves are gone McCall is going to die because he's somehow linked to the tree. I'm not sure how it is that McCall will die once all the leaves fall - trees don't die just because their leaves fall off!) but apparently he will. And I have to confess that I really just didn't get the journey McCall was travelling.
Murphy was fine. I just found the story quite lacking, but I will have to give it credit for a handful of funny scenes. Overall, though, I wasn't really that into this. (4/10)