Hollywood Hype Machine: Difference between revisions

* [[Eddie Murphy]] was the hottest comedian around back in [[The Eighties]]. He started out on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' during one of its toughest [[Dork Age]]s, perhaps being ''the'' reason SNL escaped cancellation. He would soon bring his wit to the big screen in films like ''[[48 Hrs.|48 Hours]]'', ''[[Trading Places]]'', ''[[Beverly Hills Cop]]'' and ''Beverly Hills Cop II'', and ''[[Coming to America]]'' (his only misstep was 1986's ''[[The Golden Child]]''), as well as his standup specials ''Delirious'' and ''Raw'', and even [[So Bad It's Good|a couple hit songs]] such as "Party All the Time". But after the failure of his 1989 vanity project ''[[Harlem Nights]]'', in which he starred with his comic idols [[Richard Pryor]] and Redd Foxx, Murphy's career plummeted in [[The Nineties]], with his films ''Another 48 Hours'', ''The Distinguished Gentleman'', ''Boomerang'', ''Beverly Hills Cop III'', and ''[[Vampire in Brooklyn]]'', all bombing. He had become a walking punchline, infamously mocked by [[David Spade]] on SNL in 1995 when he said "Look, kids! a falling star! Make a wish!", which ''[[Dude, Not Funny|really]]'' [[Berserk Button|made him mad]]. He bounced back with his 1996 remake of ''[[The Nutty Professor]]'', and other films like ''Metro'', ''Dr Doolittle'', ''[[Mulan]]'', ''[[Life (film)|Life]]'', and ''[[Bowfinger]]''. But in the 2000s, Murphy slipped again as he made more [[Rated "G" for Gangsta|family-friendly films]], which, with the exception of the ''[[Shrek]]'' films, were poorly received. Films like ''[[Daddy Day Care]]'', ''[[The Haunted Mansion]]'', ''[[Meet Dave]]'', and ''Imagine That'', were panned by audiences and critics, but his worst was 2002's ''[[The Adventures of Pluto Nash]]'', which became [[Box Office Bomb|one of the biggest bombs in Hollywood history]]. His brightest spot throughout this time was receiving an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for ''[[Dreamgirls]]'' in 2006, but the much-maligned 2007 film ''[[Norbit]]'' probably torpedoed his hopes of winning. He was praised for starring in ''[[Tower Heist]]'' in 2011, but 2012 brought ''A Thousand Words'' (filmed several years before its release), which was universally panned. He has expressed an interest in making more adult-oriented movies, so only time will tell whether he'll recover.

* Similar to Eddie Murphy, [[Jim Carrey]] was ''the'' big comedian of the '90s. Jim Carrey started off playing supporting or minor roles in movies in the 80's, but after the back-to-back successes of ''[[Ace Ventura]]'', ''[[Dumb and Dumber]]'', and ''[[The Mask]]'' in 1994, his star shot up like a rocket. Unfortunately for him, while his comedic roles brought a major bank, it made him severely [[Typecasting|typecast]] as an actor. [[Tom Hanks Syndrome|Attempts at more dramatic fare]], such as ''[[The Truman Show]]'', ''[[Man on the Moon]]'', ''[[The Majestic]]'', and ''[[Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind]]'', while earning him praise from critics, under-performed and even outright flopped at the box office<ref>''[[The Truman Show]]'' was the one exception and that was due to [[Never Trust a Trailer|the trailer downplaying the drama]].</ref> compared to his broad comedies. While he currently sticks to those, he's toned down his antics in them, and is thus not quite as popular as he was in [[The Nineties]].

 

== Too early to call ==