Meet Dave

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On Sky Movies Screen 1 12/11/09 09:15

Director: Brian Robbins

Stars: Eddie Murphy, Elizabeth Banks, Scott Caan, Gabrielle Union

Year: 2008 Running Time: 90 mins Rating:

If Dave Ming Chang (Eddie Murphy) acts like he’s from another world, that’s because he is. In fact, he’s a spaceship manned by tiny aliens whose planet’s survival rests in the hands of a New York schoolboy. Of course, the mission’s success depends on Dave keeping a low profile. Oh dear. Doubling up as the crew’s befuddled captain, Murphy is firmly at the controls of this outlandish mash-up of Crocodile Dundee and Men In Black.

Review

In a dual role requiring much facial and physical mugging, Murphy plays the eponymous man-shaped spaceship and the alien commander in whose image it is made.

The Lilliputian crew land in New York to retrieve a small meteorite which was supposed to suck up all the salt from Earth’s oceans, thus providing an energy source for their own dying planet.

Unfortunately it landed in the bedroom of mop-topped pipsqueak Josh (Austyn Myers), whose dad is dead but whose mum Gina (Banks) is yum.

Extracting all knowledge of humanity from Google and a single episode of 70s show Fantasy Island, the crew hit the streets as Dave Ming Chang, an uncoordinated freak in a dodgy white suit.

Almost immediately, Dave is run over by Gina. The mission is practically over. Well done, everyone.

Er, not quite. There’s a spanner in the works in the form of the captain’s insubordinate second-in-command (Ed Helms), a subplot involving Scott Caan as the cop on Dave’s case and plenty of life lessons, potty humour and special effects to enjoy first.

Elliott Noble