Eddie Murphy and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Opening Weekend
Expectations were fairly low for A Thousand Words, the high-concept Eddie Murphy comedy shelved a few years back and finally released this weekend. And those expectations were … yeah, they were right on. The movie delivered a historically ignominious performance, both bombing at the box office — a measly $6.3 million, barely enough to cover the average Hollywood production’s Smartwater and Edible Arrangements budget — and meeting the full wrath of the critical community. As of right now, A Thousand Words is sporting a remarkable zero percent Rotten Tomatoes score. That means 39 professional appreciators of film were paid to attempt to appreciate this movie, and all 39 of them definitively failed to do so. As the Guardian points out, “other no-marks include the Adam Sandler-scripted sex comedy Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star, the ham-fisted Pinocchio film by Roberto Benigni, and the disastrous adaptation of the Nicci French novel Killing Me Softly with Joseph Fiennes. A Thousand Words is unique, however, in having a significant amount of critics agree on the poor quality of a vehicle for a high-profile Hollywood star.” The silver lining, thankfully, is obvious. With that kind of the-exact-opposite-of-overwhelming-immediate-critical-acclaim going for it, A Thousand Words is destined to forever live on, much like Bucky Larson before it, in Razzie lore.
Earlier: The Career Arc: Eddie Murphy
Filed Under: Box office, Eddie Murphy, Movies
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