Wesley Snipes is his name, and he scores the biggest laughs in this Eddie Murphy comedy
Film Features Wesley Snipes
Watch This offers movie recommendations inspired by new releases, premieres, current events, or occasionally just our own inscrutable whims. This week: February is Black History Month, so we’re looking back on great performances by Black actors that the Academy Awards ignored.
Dolemite Is My Name (2019)
The Netflix-distributed Dolemite Is My Name is filled to the brim with funny people. Of course, front and center is Eddie Murphy as Blaxploitation icon Rudy Ray Moore, leading a cast that includes guffaw-inducing brothas Mike Epps, Tituss Burgess, Keegan-Michael Key, and Craig Robinson. But, without question, the most surprisingly hilarious performance is delivered by someone much less expected to come with the funny: Wesley Snipes.
Yes, the man who spent most of the ’90s whooping asses all over the big screen pulls off quite the scene-stealing feat in Craig Brewer’s comic biopic. As D’Urville Martin, the self-centered actor who gets roped into both directing and co-starring in Moore’s debut cult classic Dolemite, Snipes is a boozy, flamboyant delight. He saunters through every scene like he just left a cocaine orgy, all hazy and wigged-out, cooing “Actione!” before a take. (Larry Karaszewski, who co-wrote the script with longtime partner Scott Alexander, has said Snipes brought that druggy flair to the character, since he didn’t want to be the only person who didn’t get laughs.)
In the brief time Snipes is in Name, he serves as the antagonistic yin to Moore’s optimistic yang. According to the documentary The Legend Of Dolemite (which you can see for free on Tubi and Crackle), the late, real-life Martin—whose filmography included co-starring roles in several Fred Williamson movies and bit parts in mainstream films like Rosemary’s Baby—did not think very highly of Moore and his very-low-budget production. Screenwriter Jerry Jones remembers Martin telling people he thought Dolemite was “a piece of shit and it wouldn’t turn out to be anything and he wasn’t giving it his best.”
Indeed, Snipes successfully captures Martin’s pouty frustration at having to helm such inferior product. “What planet is this cat on?” a screwdriver-swigging Martin asks the cinematographer (Kodi Smit-McPhee) as they film Moore’s weak attempt at karate during a fight scene. But before he bolts when the film finally wraps, there is an earnest moment where Martin tells Moore to dig deep as an actor before their big, climactic scene together.
Snipes gives a truly eye-opening performance in Name, both figuratively and literally. (He constantly bugs out his eyes in this thing, looking exactly like ’70s-era Cameo frontman Larry Blackmon.) He practically reminded audiences that, even though he’s known for such badass roles as vampire slayer Blade and power-mad druglord Nino Brown in New Jack City, Snipes still has the same comic chops he displayed in White Men Can’t Jump and To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar.
Snipes is just one of many people in Dolemite Is My Name snubbed by the Academy. (Of course, Murphy deserved to be up for Best Actor, and Tony nominee Da’Vine Joy Randolph should have received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her performance as Moore cohort Lady Reed.) But then, Name is basically a comedy, and the Academy tends to frown on anything that’s funny. Still, while the Oscars may have ignored Snipes along with his costars, it’s quite the kick seeing him revitalize his career by playing comic foil to Eddie Murphy. In a couple of weeks, Amazon Prime will drop Brewer’s Coming 2 America, where he’ll play a warlord general ready to take over the kingdom of Murphy’s King Akeem. If Snipes goes full-tilt the same way he did in Name, he’ll once again be the funniest thing in an Eddie Murphy movie.
Availability: Dolemite Is My Name is streaming on Netflix.
40 Comments
Snipes was also very funny in White Men Cant Jump.
He held his own in Major League.
“Shit, I been cut already?”
He’s always had great comedic (and dramatic) chops, he just wanted to go be an action hero, to increasingly diminishing returns.
Counterpoint. I loved him in the first two Blade films. Don’t talk to me about the third.
Talk to the guy who wrote the Nolan “Batman” films and a bunch of the modern “Call of Duty” games, because I presume he’s responsible for that atrocity against vampires.
Michael Jae White hopefully concurs.
Easily the most charismatic and scene-commanding presence in Demolition Man.
Also, the only man who wasn’t a cardboard cutout in “Waiting to Exhale.”
My brother was hugely into basketball as a kid, so he watched ‘White Men Can’t Jump’ multiple times and as a result so did I. I was pretty young at the time so I can’t remember Snipes’ comic chops particularly, but I do remember him as being super compelling in it. Any time he was on screen you weren’t paying attention to anything else.
I see that and raise you “Wildcats”, a forgotten gem.
Best thing about this movie was the Rudy Ray rabbit hole it sent me down. Disco Godfather, holy crap is that gloriously bad. Accidental comedy is so good.
I’m old, so I had first encountered the Dolemite films in the late 80’s (after I’m Gonna Get You Sucka I was obsessed with finding those films) and seeing this film really made me appreciate the work that went into such low budget films.Also: “PUT YOUR WEIGHT ON IT!”*best Dolemite/RRM film I (IMO) is probably Dolemite 2: The Human Tornado
“Where is Bucky? And what has he HAD?”
Bitch? ARE YOU FOR REAL?
Replaying his naked ass rolling down the hill as he says “I bet you don’t think I really did that” or something is so perfect.
I’m partial to Petey Wheatstraw, The Devil’s Son In Law. Leroy and Skillet really brought a certain Je Ne Sais Quoi to that movie.
I love love LOVED this film. Murphy and Snipes are both excellent in it and deserved some nominations if not flat out awards.It’s a very funny movie, but there’s also a lot of “soul” in it as well. You really get a feeling of what Rudy Ray Moore might have been like outside of the brash Dolemite image, and it also very accurately captures how exploitation films were put together back then. IMO it’s Murphy’s best work in a LONG time.
It gave off “Ed Wood” vibes of an exploitation filmmaker who got by through being creative, a little larcenous, with an eye towards talent among those who are usually ignored/dismissed.You can tell Eddie Murphy gave a performance he cared about.
With the bonus that unlike poor Ed Wood, Rudy Ray Moore was able to find success and validation. And seeing how they were able to cobble the first Dolemite film together was great, much in the way seeing Ed Wood stealing the octopus to get the Bride Of The Monster filmed was great. I fully agree about Murphy giving a performance he cared about. After SO long of just phone it in and mediocre movies, this (and when he appeared on SNL after so long) reminded me of just why he was a superstar in the 80’s. With the right material he is incredibly funny and talented. Not sure if you’re into ‘bad’ or exploitation movies, but I recently watched a film about the guy who made “The Creeping Terror” and apparently he really was a creep. Good film though.
LOL. That creep was Vic Savage . . .
Yes! I take it you’ve seen it as well? Vic Savage aka AJ Nelson…
Saw Creeping Terror a looong time ago. And later read about him being a nut. Didn’t know there was a film about him. Is it a documentary?
It’s a…docu-drama? There is footage/interviews with his ex wife and others during the film if that makes sense.
Agreed and what I found most delightful in Name is how charmingly benign this movie is when you consider the language and imagery and raunchy personae that Rudy Ray Moore inhabited.He was this guy with big dreams who just wanted to make fun and entertaining movies.
I enjoyed the closing credits scenes of the original movies showing that, yes, they really were that silly.
This movie was so underrated, and Wesley Snipes, despite any weird behavior or tax issues, is such a great fucking actor. He can literally do anything, and I hope his career really picks up after this and Coming to America 2.
I just watched this last week and absolutely LOVED it. So so so funny, and also a really hopeful and uplifting underdog story. It would be hard not to smile watching this movie.
It’s an absolute gem. Hilarious, filthy, optimistic, poignant … and an absolute killer cast.
Snipes was amazing in this role. The film is a blast, highly recommended.
Glad to know many others appreciate Wesley Snipes performance in this movie. When this came out, it was obvious that he was the secret weapon of this movie. Also what’s enjoyable about this movie is that Eddie Murphy had that gleam in his eye that hasn’t been seen on a screen in years.
So depressing that this film was ignored at Oscar time. Terrific work from Murphy and Snipes was hysterical. Can’t wait for Coming 2 America.
Netflix was so wrapped up in Irishmen and Marriage Stories that Dolemite just got lost in the awards shuffle. But I believe if it was a proper theatrical movie, a huge audience reception would have ensured it wouldn’t be ignored.
Wesley Snipes’ cameo in that episode of “What We Do In The Shadows” as Blade with internet issues was hilarious too.
Snipes was great in this, as were several other castmates he shared the screen with. I’d still give the most laughs to Murphy though.
Snipes was also very funny in Major League, one of his first big roles.It’s really good to see him being funny again
When I saw Major League in the theater a woman sitting nearby commented on how good Arsenio Hall is. That’s how unknown Wes was then.
Isn’t this the same guy that hit Halle Berry so hard she lost 80 percent of her hearing?
very good performance. the movie is worth checking out.