'Dolemite Is My Name': film review TIFF2019
A true-life underdog story that spawned a pop-culture touchstone, the birth of Rudy Ray Moore's Dolemite character holds an obvious appeal for Eddie Murphy, having paved the way for brash, foul-mouthed black comedians who controlled rooms with charisma before they even got to a punchline.
But an encounter with an aging homeless man plants a seed in his head: As the man is being kicked out of the record store, he briefly captivates bystanders with a soliloquy drawing on ancient storytelling traditions. Wondering if he might adapt the stuff for a new nightclub act, Moore takes a wad of cash and some booze into the streets and records all the old homeless men with rhymes to sling.
Wearing a new persona every night — we mostly see him dressed as a pimp, though the film downplays the exploitative aspects of the Dolemite character — Moore goes on the road, playing shows on the "chitlin' circuit" that look like a helluva lot of fun. Audiences love him, and his record even makes the Billboard charts. He teams up with a woman who calls herself Lady Reed , a platonic partnership that, given Randolph's appeal, the movie might've developed further.
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