Starship Dave

[Pak-Man]

I don't know about that. I'm going to see it despite bad reviews and the fact that it's not my kind of movie just because I know Bill's behind it. SOME of his genius must have slipped through Hollywood's filters. :^)

[stirrell]

It seems like many of the reviews have been negative but Variety seemed to really like it:

http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie-critic-reviews/meet-dave/

The average critic reviews at Yahoo! was a C+ which certainly isn't a disaster.

It probably isn't something I would normally see either, but I probably will catch it because of the connection with Bill.

[JackTheRIFFER]

I'm sorry my wonderful, wonderful Bill...  But...

http://www.cracked.com/video_16457_who-would-actually-pay-see-new-eddie-murphy-movie.html

[Petey Wheatstraw]

I'm sorry my wonderful, wonderful Bill...  But...

http://www.cracked.com/video_16457_who-would-actually-pay-see-new-eddie-murphy-movie.html

Cracked is garbage.

[ShadowDog]

I'm really hoping the rifftrax gang, including Bill, riffs this movie. I'm going to watch it once regardless, but if it had a riff I'd watch it over and over.

OMFG this would be so awesome!

[mrbasehart]

Okay, so I just saw and god help me, I think I enjoyed it.  There are some very funny moments in the movie, mostly connected with the "starship's" attempts to be human and Eddie Murphy's very good at that.  Less successful (to downright awful) are the gay and racial jokes that frequently appear - I'm assuming this wasn't something written by Bill - and the slightly mawkish "gosh, aren't humans great?" sentiment running throughout.  As I said, Murphy's good as the ship, but not so good as the Captain of the ship, and provided love interest seems superfluous. 

EDIT: Oh, and while Elizabeth Banks is good, Ed Helms is just awful. 

[MontyServo]

A few of the reviews I've seen are pointing out Bill and MST3K.

The New York Times (which didn't actually slam the movie as much as other places) mentions that Bill used to write for MST3K.

And USA Today (which did slam the movie) also mentions Bill:

Given that co-screenwriter Bill Corbett was a writer for the quirky Mystery Science Theater 3000, Meet Dave really should have been funnier.

Looks like the Box Office wasn't too great for it either, opening in seventh place with only $1.7 million on Friday.

I may go see it tomorrow.  Wall-E is my number one choice for this weekend, but if I feel up to it I may pair it with Meet Dave for a double feature.  If not, I'll watch it for sure on Blu Ray in a few months.

[gojikranz]

our local paper(contra costa times) gave it a C- but said it made them remember why they used to like eddie murphy.  i think ill go see it.

[Queen Shadowrama]

Just got back from seeing it right now, so I'm posting my thoughts while they're still fresh in my head. Spoilers I guess, but really, this isn't Star Wars...I doubt it matters.

First, let me start off and say that I would not have gone to see this film if Bill hadn't had anything to do with it. Upon seeing the trailer, I thought the film was doomed to be nothing but garbage. The fact that Eddie Murphy was in it only sealed this notion in my mind. I, along with many other people lamented and thought, "remember the days when Eddie Murphy was funny?"

I managed to convince my mom to go to see it with me, and explained to her why I would want to see something like this. "Well mom, one of the guys from MST wrote it. I fully expect it to be a painful experience, but because I consider myself a real fan, I'll suffer through it for Bill. And who knows? Maybe it will be good...(cue nervous laugh)"

Guess what guys? It was actually good! The trailer that we have all seen does not do this film justice, really. My mom and I laughed through the entire thing. From the moment Dave lands on Earth and starts trying to walk, it's laugh out loud funny. Eddie Murphy is at his best when he can do physical comedy...and when he smiles...well, it's all over!

The absolute best parts of the film were when Dave the ship was trying to interact with the human world. The first half hour or so when he's trying to understand the strange customs of Earth people are delightfully funny and creepy at the same time.

There were some good scenes on the inside of the ship, but it wasn't quite as good. Ed Helms is always funny no matter what, and it was interesting to see how the emotional ways of the humans were rubbing off on the emotionally sterile crew. It did get a little sappy at times (the love story) and just offensively over the top in others (macho security guard becoming a lame gay stereotype after seeing a Broadway musical...please Bill tell me that was added in after you were gone), but ultimately it held together pretty well.

Was it the greatest comedy to ever grace the silver screen? No. Not even close. But I would call it cute. And I don't mean "cute" in that snooty, this-movie-is-crap-but-I-have-to-find-something-nice-to-say way either. It was genuinely a cute film. And hey, I laughed more than I groaned, and that's really all I can ask for.

I'd love to hear Bill's thoughts about it once he's seen it. I definitely want to know what parts were his and what was added. But when it comes right down to it, I gotta say, great job, Bill. I honestly think you may have tried to cushion the blow for us a bit too much. While I understand you wanting to protect your reputation, I can't help but think that between the lackluster trailer and the claims that the script was ripped apart by others after you left were kinda preparing us for it to be crap. So, we expected crap. Some still do. Don't sell yourself short like that! You're awesome, and even if it was a complete failure, we'd still love you! Anyway, no matter what the critics (or audiences) say about this film, know that you have at least one convert. You rock, as always. 

[Joe Don Faker]

Has anyone here checked out the Onion AV Club discussion thread for the movie?

Apparently Big Foot does exist, and is the biggest fan of this film.

[Dim of the Yard]

I wonder if this will be riffed upon by RiffTrax?

It's funny enough on its own. They should go after the competiting trash, like Hellboy and The Dark Knight.

HAHAHAHAHA OH WOW.

I have no opinion on his jab at Hellboy 2, since I have not yet seen it and can't judge for myself how it is.  (But I really want to see it.)  Dark Knight, however?  Half of his comments are about him getting mad at people in the thread for bashing a movie that they have not seen.  So why would he turn around and start bashing a movie that HE hasn't seen?

I'm kind of thinking this guy is a troll.  If he is, dammit, I fell for it and replied to his comments.  This should be fun.

[Joe Don Faker]

It seems what's happened now is, after the guy's initial wave of repetitious posts, some copycats have used the Yeti screenname to snowball the situation even further.

(The Onion discussion threads are vulnerable to this sort of thing because apparently it's possible to create copycat accounts simply by putting a space before the screenname.)

[esoobaC .T bocaJ]

Spoiler

"Meet Dave" saw one of the worst opening grosses ever for an Eddie Murphy pic.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Why was this released during the summer blockbuster season?  Movies like this are normally held for the fall/holiday season...

No way it could compete with Hancock, Hellboy, or Batman next weekend...  Especially with people cutting back on this kind of spending...

[Steve-O]

Oh, dear.

Honesty, though, there is no shame in being outgrossed by Good Burger.  I mean, it did have Abe Vigoda.