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Show Page B8 Thursday, January 7, 1988 Park Record Eddie Murphy: not "Raw," just spoiled were fighting for American Heart vourufe Association By RON GEORG Record staff writer Eddie Murphy has been called a comic genuis. Lenny Bruce would turn over in his grave. In his latest movie, "Raw," a film created from two performances at New York City's Felt Forum, Murphy Mur-phy demonstrates a spectacular performing per-forming ability, but his writing falls flat. Genuis is inspired. When Lenny Bruce uttered that curse of curses, it was to illustrate a point. He used the word with artistry, it was poetry in his hands, it is pornography in Murphy's. Mur-phy's. Murphy illustrates the point himself in one section where he berates Bill Cosby. It seems Cosby called Murphy at one time to complain com-plain about the content of Murphy's act. Murphy goes into a Cosby impersonation imper-sonation to describe the call. The impersonation im-personation is incredible, a tribute to Murphy's ability to act comically, but the monologue reveals his inability in-ability to really understand comedy. Instead of coming up with a real counter to Cosby's complaint, Murphy Mur-phy attacks Cosby with his right to say what he pleases. He completely ignores what Cosby was probably trying to say, which is, good comedy stands on its own, and while colorful language may accent an act, it is possible to over-season the material. What is disturbing here is not the simple use of profanity. It is compounded, com-pounded, drastically, by Murphy's ego. From the beginning, Murphy's superstar status is over-played. There is absolutely nothing funny about Murphy's entrance. It is pure drama, filmed with Miami-vice urgency. Cameras pan across New York with a powerful funk beat drumming the audience's ears, narrowing in on Murphy's limo, license plate "RAW." A cameraman follows the strutting legs of Murphy and his bodygaurds as he heads for the stage. . He is dressed in purple-paisely leather, black gloves, a gold ring outside one glove, and matching boots. The height of fashion, he looks more like Prince than a comedian, further emphasizing his superstar status. 1 ' Hisntire act is based on Eddie Murpfcy.- He talks about how funny" heN in "Delirious," dredging up impersonations from that inspired performance and re-hashing them in this drab reflection. He talks about how he was beaten up for no apparent reason in a disco, which could have been funny, had he not taken the opportunity to slam the entire Italian race. It seems a man of Italian background had fattened his lips for him, and so he accused all Italians of being Sly Stallone dupes. Women are sure to be offended by Murphy's monologue. While his observation that Johnny Carson's ex-wives don't deserve the sort of settlements they are getting is funny, fun-ny, it's an old joke. He takes the old joke too far. After explaining why women are not entitled en-titled to half their ex's incomes, a point he makes admirably, he goes on to call all women vindictive. It is soon apparent, however, why Murphy sees women as vindictive. After spending a bit of time with this sexist, women are sure to bear a grudge against mankind. He reveals his sexist bent when he tries to be sentimental about a woman he was in love with. After rattling off her impressive list of body parts, he had no further admiration ad-miration for her. L f" .1 r 1 ' i w vn? V I i ii j 4''' U J (7 "Ml IF h J 17; f t- 3 f V ' 1 I vi XiM 1 v N m x 11. - .Tr. .-ri. r-.-r-- .irrmrt-Tr-1f -rn. J Eddie Murphy shows his cocky style in his worst movie to date, "Raw Meel World It is not at all surprising he decided decid-ed not to marry her for fear of meeting Carson's fate. Murphy would be the first to admit, he wasn't looking for a mate, he wanted safe sex. Murphy writes off any criticism of his work by saying people laugh, and I get paid. Someone else once said, no one ever went broke underestimating the stupidity of the American public. Certainly Murphy gets laughs. His stage prescence is powerful, and his ability to mock and impersonate is brilliant. The audience will laugh through the entire performance, but nothing lasting will come of Murphy's Mur-phy's humor. While he is a great performer, Murphy is no genuis. People like Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, and Richard Pryor have made lasting contributions to society with their social humor. While Murphy was headed in the right direction with "Delirious," this new movie has all the social contribution con-tribution of a Chippendales dance act. Hopefully, this brilliant performer per-former will either discover a social conscience or a good writer. 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