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.
Murphy's second film is considered a comedy classic, even if some of its elements haven't aged well. (Yes, there's blackface.) Released in 1983, the John Landis-directed Trading Places finds two commodities traders (played by screen legends Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche, who briefly return as the same characters in Coming to America) making a wager that involves swapping the lives of a poor street hustler (Murphy) and a wealthy man at their firm (fellow SNL vet Dan Aykroyd). A box office hit, the film helped launched Murphy to stardom and also gave a boost to the career of Jamie Lee Curtis, who was previously cast only in horror films.
“[Murphy] makes Trading Places something more than a good-hearted comedy. He turns it into an event.” —Richard Schickel, Time
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