Every Eddie Murphy Movie, Ranked
Updated January 2023 to add You People.
After a successful stand-up career in the 1970s and a wildly acclaimed run on Saturday Night Live in the early 1980s, Eddie Murphy launched his film career (while still on SNL) in 1982 and has been appearing on the big screen fairly steadily in the decades since, starring in over 40 titles. To date, Murphy's films have grossed over $6 billion worldwide, but only occasionally has the material on screen matched Murphy's comedic talents—and, even when it has, reviews have sometimes been less positive than you might expect. In the gallery above, we rank all of his films to date (including his newest, Coming 2 America) from worst to best by Metascore, which reflects the consensus of professional critics for each film.
Directed by Michael Ritchie (Fletch), this 1986 film was a departure for Murphy. For one thing, it wasn't rated R (like each of his previous four films). It's also a special effects-laden fantasy thriller that was only belatedly (and partially) turned into a comedy once Murphy was added to the project. He plays a private investigator charged with rescuing a mystical Tibetan child from a villain played by Charles Dance. Critics were confused by an awkward film that played at times like a movie for kids and at others like a mediocre Murphy vehicle, though it performed well at the box office.
“It's not awful; it isn't dull. But The Golden Child is a kids' film, and there are times when Murphy himself seems uncomfortable, as if he knows he's making a movie he wouldn't pay to see.” —Bill Cosford, The Miami Herald
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