It's a pretty hard and fast rule that if a trailer includes a bit of the hero strutting down the street to "Staying Alive" and movie being advertised isn't Saturday Night Fever, the movie is almost certain to be terrible. But then, why should we expect any more from Eddie Murphy? It's sad to see what's happened to the guy- Murphy was as funny as anyone ever was on SNL, but he has an spooky talent for gravitating toward crap that, given his popularity, he should have the clout to avoid. The premise for Meet Dave had real potential, but if the trailer is any clue then it's merely one bit of forced schtick after another. Even the title reeks of dumbing-down, as the movie was originally called Starship Dave until it was decided that the audience couldn't handle multisyllabic words. About the best thing I can say is that Murphy doesn't appear to engage in any ethnic humor here, unless of course he's the one made up to look like Elizabeth Banks. A possibility which, truth be told, I wouldn't rule out at this point. It would certainly explain the character's attraction to Murphy, come to think of it.
