Dolemite Is My Name
Netflix | Release Date: October 4, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews
Positive:
33
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperOct 10, 2019
In the flat-out hilarious 1970s period piece “Dolemite Is My Name,” Murphy is the funniest he’s been since we last saw Sherman Klump and family in the early 2000s — but he’s equally effective in the handful of relatively low-key, dramatic moments. It’s a fully realized performance. Read full review
100
TimeStephanie ZacharekOct 5, 2019
It’s also hugely entertaining and joyously profane, a movie whose spirit is so big the screen can barely contain it. Read full review
100
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinOct 5, 2019
Dolemite Is My Name has the glee of a John Waters movie in which it’s freaks-versus-squares, with freakishness the only healthy design for living. Read full review
100
New York PostSara StewartOct 4, 2019
This comic biopic is a blast from start to finish. Read full review
91
UproxxVince ManciniJan 2, 2020
Dolemite Is My Name is escapism, but it’s also not mindless escapism. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternOct 3, 2019
In Dolemite Is My Name, Eddie Murphy takes a good idea and runs with it, soars with it, and turns it into a great, if wildly erratic, twofer tribute — to a singular legend of black entertainment culture, and to the transformative power of raunchy, outrageous humor. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranOct 3, 2019
Murphy is back, and both his old gifts and some new ones are on engaging display in the rowdy, raunchy, inescapably funny Dolemite Is My Name, a gleefully profane biopic and a passion project the star has been nurturing for years. Read full review
88
The Associated PressLindsey BahrOct 3, 2019
There’s nothing terribly interesting about the way it’s told, it’s just a straightforward underdog story with a big beating heart. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comOdie HendersonSep 16, 2019
A typical biopic buoyed by its unrelenting hilarity, its affection for its subject and commitment to the time and place it is set. And yet, something still nags at me about its lead performance. Don’t get me wrong, Murphy is very, very good, and on the basis of this, I’d love to see him tackle Pryor next. I just buy him more as Rudy Ray Moore than I do as Dolemite. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattOct 3, 2019
Murphy...brings so much hope and hunger and pure life force to the role that he makes you believe in every punchline, pelvic thrust, and egregiously misplaced karate kick. Read full review
83
ConsequenceSarah KurchakSep 9, 2019
A celebration of Rudy Ray Moore, the creative process, and black creativity, Dolemite Is My Name is an absolute joy to watch. Read full review
83
The PlaylistJason BaileySep 8, 2019
In playing a man who was so clearly among his comic ancestors and influences, we see, for the first time in a long time, Murphy’s sheer joy of performance, the thing that made his early work in films like “48 HRS.” and “Beverly Hills Cop” so electrifying. Read full review
80
PolygonKaren HanNov 19, 2019
Dolemite Is My Name is ultimately a little flimsy — perhaps as is appropriate given the nature of Dolemite itself — but it’s a star turn for Murphy. His compassionate choices make up for the film’s flaws, or at least make them less noticeable while you’re watching it. Read full review
80
We Got This CoveredLuke ParkerOct 31, 2019
Dolemite Is My Name belongs to Murphy. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 11, 2019
It’s a heartfelt, funny, satisfying film. Read full review
80
Paste MagazineJoi ChildsOct 10, 2019
Murphy plays it all so sincerely we root for Moore. Leaning into how shoestring the actual 1975 Dolemite film looked while still celebrating the team behind it is the best way to capture the essence of Moore’s films without making fun of him. Read full review
80
TheWrapRobert AbeleOct 3, 2019
Murphy’s resplendent turn anchors a true if predictably told story of showbiz aspirations and can-do spirit, but in the great whoosh of majestically profane, beaming energy he provides from beginning to end, it’s clear that his brand of electrifying, in-the-moment comedy has sorely been missed. Read full review
80
VarietyOwen GleibermanSep 8, 2019
A total motherf—kin’ blast. ... You might have to go all the way back to the ’80s to find a Murphy performance driven by this much pleasurable funky verve. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovOct 9, 2019
A wicked return to form for Murphy, who absolutely nails Moore’s straight outta West Hollywood brio and never-say-die single-mindedness. It's an often uproarious glimpse into microbudget filmmaking and the fearless badassery of the man they called Dolemite. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 28, 2019
It’s a strong performance of a character worthy of biopic treatment. Dolemite lives! Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrOct 23, 2019
Murphy grounds the film, in part because the actor has the gift of motormouth hustle himself, but also because he gets the anger at the core of Rudy Ray Moore — the rage to be noticed that propelled Moore away from Arkansas, an abusive stepfather, and the life of a black sharecropper. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayOct 9, 2019
Like “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” this is a movie rooted in the scruffy but golden days of the 1970s, populated by strivers and schemers and would-be stars whose breakthrough is as much a function of willpower as raw talent. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 8, 2019
At its best, director Brewer’s film lounges alongside such movies about moviemaking as “Ed Wood” (written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who wrote this picture, too) and the more recent but very thin “The Disaster Artist,” about the making of the less interestingly terrible cult item “The Room." Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 3, 2019
As foul-mouthed and politically-incorrect (era appropriate) as Dolemite is My Name is, it is a classic Hollywood feel-good movie, a sentimental tale of an underdog overcoming obstacle after obstacle to follow his bliss. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeSep 26, 2019
What the film lacks in depth and focus, it makes up for in personality. Murphy’s obviously the star here, but Moore’s loyal entourage comes to the movie with plenty of charisma of its own. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzSep 10, 2019
Essential to the film’s success is Murphy, clearly having his best time in a long time as Moore, who adopted a flashy pimp-esque persona that would eventually take the blaxploitation landscape by storm. Read full review
70
VoxAlissa WilkinsonOct 10, 2019
It’s an interesting (if not in-depth) exploration of how culturally dependent a thing comedy really is. It’s a vivid depiction of the challenges that black entertainers have faced, particularly in Hollywood. And it is, to everyone’s delight, a great Eddie Murphy performance. Read full review
70
Rolling StonePeter TraversOct 3, 2019
Though the formulaic result comes up short as cinema, it’ll make you laugh you ass off. There are worse trade-offs. Read full review
70
IGNChris TillySep 11, 2019
In spite of the adult material, it’s a genuinely affecting underdog story, and a rallying cry to anyone who has ever dreamed big. Most of all, Dolemite is a heartfelt tribute to a genuine auteur who spent his life spreading laughter and joy, and who made movie magic by always staying true to himself. Read full review
70
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 9, 2019
An enjoyable star vehicle that provides the beloved comic with one of his most substantial roles. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichSep 8, 2019
Unfolding like a slaphappy cross between “Baadasssss!” and “Bowfinger,” “Dolemite Is My Name” may not be quite as spirited or hilarious as any of its most obvious reference points, but its big-hearted buoyancy keeps it afloat, and the movie doesn’t slow down long enough for you to really care that it’s following a timeless formula. Read full review
65
The AtlanticDavid SimsOct 4, 2019
It’s most exciting to watch as a reminder of just how good Murphy can be when he’s committed to his material. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChuck BowenOct 23, 2019
After its promising first act, Craig Brewer’s film becomes a series of fleeting bits, allowing questions to pile up. Read full review
60
SlateInkoo KangOct 3, 2019
Dolemite Is My Name delivers on titties, funnies, and kung fu, all mixed up in a syrupy nostalgia that makes the picture’s feel-good populism go down easy. It’s only when the credits roll that you might notice there was little there but froth. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottOct 3, 2019
It has a loose, friendly, house-party vibe, and it’s impossible not to have a good time watching the actors have a good time with one another. If there’s a problem, it’s that the good humor has the effect of lowering the film’s dramatic stakes, and risks turning its cultural reference points into cartoons. Read full review
60
Vanity FairK. Austin CollinsSep 9, 2019
It feels at times like a Tracy Jordan spoof of a movie, and not always for the better. But that doesn’t stop Dolemite from being funny, or from giving Murphy room to do the things he likes to do. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeSep 8, 2019
Odd, then, that [Brewer and Murphy's] Dolemite Is My Name is such a conventional-feeling biopic, one with its share of laughs and surprising anecdotes but little of the enduring strangeness that kept the 1975 Dolemite rattling around in our cultural memory Read full review
58
The Film StageEthan VestbySep 8, 2019
Dolemite Is My Name sadly coasts on a reliable biopic structure and handsome production values. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleOct 22, 2019
Its main virtue is that it provides Murphy with a juicy role. Read full review
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