The latest film to hit streaming platform Amazon Prime Video has received a rocky reception from critics and fans alike, despite starring a true Hollywood heavyweight.
Described as ‘an embarrassing, ridiculous waste of time’ and ‘unadulterated garbage’, the buddy comedy and action heist movie will have had lofty goals in mind with its cast.
Starring Oscar-nominated movie icon Eddie Murphy and former Saturday Night Live breakout Pete Davidson, The Pickup follows their mismatched armoured truck driver characters after they’re ambushed while on shift by criminals led by a savvy mastermind, Zoe (Keke Palmer).
But Zoe’s plans go way beyond the cash cargo Russell and Travis are carrying, and the unlikely duo is forced to navigate the chaos and high-risk danger as their very bad day keeps getting worse.
The action flick was released on Prime Video yesterday for fans just two days after critics were able to deliver their verdict – which was overwhelmingly unimpressed to say the least, with one review describing it as ‘one of the year’s worst movies’.
On review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, The Pickup has a miserable 33% score from critics – and while fans have been more generous, it’s still a rotten reaction from then with a limp, and still officially rotten, 47%.
‘I like Eddie Murphy, but why does he always choose the worst movies to star in?’ asked disappointed viewer Michael G on the platform, while Commin C wrote next to their half-star reaction: ‘I don’t know how this movie got rated so highly. Yes, this score is high for this movie.’
‘Ridiculously stupid and painful to watch. I had to stop,’ complained Cork B. ‘That Eddie Murphy went along with this was a shame. While he has made some stinkers in his time, this is for sure near the top.’
‘Five minutes in and I’m outta here,’ agreed Peter M after giving up on The Pickup, while David F decided to address the Beverly Hills cop star directly, insisting: ‘Eddie you are better than this. Stop taking the streaming pay checks and get back to theatrical releases with real comedy writer.’
Another fan noted that it was the second recent Amazon movie she’d had ‘a hard time getting through and will probably abandon’ after Heads of State.
Lis W added: ‘I don’t get Eddie Murphy. Is he just churning out movies for the studio and taking the money, and not caring about his filmography reputation?’
‘So tired of this garbage. Eddie Murphy, Pete Davidson, the writing, the acting, the story = just plain awful. Baffling that these movies get made. Even odder is that positive reviews exist,’ chimed in Drew D.
But some fans were still delighted indeed, with Adam R enthusing: ‘A comedy masterpiece! I laughed out loud on repeat. Job well done to everyone: director, actors, writers! Do yourself a favour and watch this movie.’
Another viewer, Lindsey V, even claimed it was ‘the best Eddie movie I have seen in ages’.
It currently sits at the top of Prime Video’s streaming charts in the UK as the number one film and also the number three title overall.
However, critics strongly disagreed, with The Guardian’s Andrew Laurence branding The Pickup ‘heinous’ and ‘worse than Norbit’, often considered the nadir of Murphy’s career.
‘The Pickup is easily the worst Eddie Murphy movie in recent memory. That’s right: worse than A Thousand Words, the Liar Liar rip-off so underwhelming that Murphy had to take a break from making comedies. And worse than Norbit, the Nutty Professor ersatz probably costing him the Oscar for Dreamgirls,’ he wrote in a one-star review.
‘It is as generic and forgettable as its title suggests: a bland action-comedy that will surely end up being one of the year’s worst movies, if only for the egregious way it squanders its talented cast,’ agreed Christy Lemire for RogerEbert.com in a similarly scored review.
‘In a movie with Eddie Murphy, Pete Davidson, and Keke Palmer, I laughed the hardest at snap-zooms. That’s a problem – for some, probably an unforgivable one,’ admitted ScreenRant’s Alex Harrison.
Meanwhile, The Upcoming dammed the film with faint praise, writing: ‘The Pickup is not the worst film that either Murphy or Davidson has starred in. However, it may be their most unremarkable.’
Murphy’s last film attracted millions of views for Netflix after he starred in a continuation of one of his most popular franchises with Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, while he previously attracted critical acclaim for 2019’s Dolemite Is My Name, landing a Golden Globe nomination.
He has also recently thrilled fans with the announcement that he will be reprising his beloved voice acting role of Donkey in Shrek 5 as well as a spin-off movie focused on the sidekick character and his dragon wife.
The Pickup is streaming exclusively now on Prime Video.
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