The Pickup

A textbook example of wasted potential. 4.5/10

Eddie Murphy, once a comedic powerhouse, delivers a surprisingly average performance that feels like he's merely collecting a paycheck. The supporting cast fares even worse, with uniformly bad acting that makes you wonder how these scenes made it past the first take.

Director Tim Story seems unsure what movie he's making. Is it a heist caper like Ocean's Eleven? An action-comedy like Bad Boys or a Car chase flick like the F&F franchise? The film awkwardly straddles both genres without committing to either, resulting in a thriller that isn't thrilling and a comedy that isn't funny.

The story is paper-thin and absurdly silly, but not in an endearing way. Poor dialogue ensures that even potentially funny moments fall completely flat.

Murphy and Davidson's chemistry feels forced and unnatural throughout. What should have been a fun romp between two mismatched partners becomes a tedious exercise in mediocrity.

Skip this pickup - your time is better spent elsewhere.

There is nothing ground breaking here and that's fine. Not every movie is going to be an academy award winning movie.

What this is, is a very light hearted action movie that is heavy on comedy with a few brief moments of thrill and twists and turns but again nothing that hasn't been done before.

As long as you don't take it too seriously there is plenty enough to keep you entertained for 90 minutes.

Granted, when I stumbled upon this movie and opted to watch it, I didn't harbor the biggest of expectations, as Eddie Murphy haven't exactly been in top notch movies in recent years. But still, since it was a movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I had to check it out.

Writers Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider put together an enjoyable script and storyline. Sure, it was running on many generic tropes for a heist movie, but it still proved rather enjoyable.

The scene with the music in the van was a nice homage to some of Eddie Murphy's earlier classic movies.

The movie does have some familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Eddie Murphy, Eva Longoria, Pete Davidson, Ismael Cruz Cordova and Andrew Dice Clay. The acting performances in "The Pickup" were good.

There is a good amount of action throughout the course of the movie, which definitely helps to spruce up the narrative. It was nicely executed action sequences as well.

I was actually genuinely entertained throughout the course of the movie. It was like a trip back to the action comedies of the 1990s. This is a popcorn movie, so just lean back in the seat, munch on the snacks and enjoy the ride.

My rating of director Tim Story's 2025 movie "The Pickup" lands on a six out of ten stars.

The Pickup has enough action and jokes to last the full 90 minutes, it has all the attributes but falls short in the reality department. Enjoyable well acted but in the end the inevitable ending lacks like most comedic actions a worthwhile ending. Enjoyable but only just. Eddie Murphy plays a strong part and is the glue for the film. It has Beverly Hill Cop remnants.

Pete Davidson was amazing in "The King of staten island", Keke Palmer has the bite, sass and timing of the most hilarious family member you love to be around and Eddie Murphy is without a doubt legendary within the comedy world, so...why did this film feel like no one really cared to pull their part?

Don't get me wrong, it had it's moments, but with comedy it's about delivery and timing, and it seemed as if they wanted to add as much dialouge as possible? It felt forced.

And I get excited about a good action plot, but where I thought the comedic timing was incredible in movie's like "The Kingsmen", this movie left me longing for fewer lines, more non speaking action sequences. Oh! And the way I never feel quite clever enough to see through some heists in other movies, this one was badly written and played out. Almost like an SNL skit, that goes on for way to long.

One more thing: The RFID tag is wireless, and when they do have a code to scan, it will not look like a regular barcode. Plus come on, that security would have needed some kind of hacking or handling.

I know the leading cast of this movie has shown a ton of talent and passion before, and I am excited to see more, just hope it's better written before it's put into production.