In 1982’s hit action comedy 48 Hours a young Eddie Murphy plays a wiseacre criminal on parole in order to help a veteran cop played by Nick Nolte solve a case. He immediately shot to screen stardom in the role garnering lots of laughs opposite Nolte’s straight man partner. 43 years laters the roles are reversed in Murphy’s latest – and least – streamer movie, The Pickup.
In this one it is basically pedal-to-the-medal action high on octane and low on comedy, at least from Murphy who now is playing the straight man and about-to-retire veteran armored truck driver paired with a bumbling wannabe cop as his cohort in delivering what starts out to be an ordinary pickup of cash when they are suddenly highjacked. Pete Davidson takes on that role and is responsible for whatever attempts at laughs there are in this thing. Davidson seems to be channeling a new-age Jerry Lewis here, ironic since one of Murphy’s biggest successes was delivering a brilliant take on an early Lewis role, The Nutty Professor , but one in playing 8 different parts over two films was purely his own.
Plotwise it is Russell’s (Murphy) and his wife Natalie’s (Eva Longoria) 25th anniversary and he is planning a special romantic dinner right after his normal pickup at work. Told he is going to get a new partner for the day, Russell is all business as he just wants to get done with it quickly and move on to the special anniversary evening. Unfortunately he is stuck with Travis (Davidson), a complete loser and Lewis-style nitwit as we have already gathered in an early scene at a bank where he also meets Zoe (Keke Palmer) who passes him her phone number, setting up what the gullible Travis thinks is a hot date. She has other plans.
So it isn’t long before their truck is hijacked and set off on a non-stop road chase by none other than Zoe and the two goons Miguel (Ismael Cruz Cordova) and Banner (Jack Kesy) she has working with her in order to achieve her ultimate goal, a casino heist worth $60 million, not the chump change in the armored truck, but instead it is the truck she needs to pull this off, and its drivers who are lured into her scheme. Of course it doesn’t all go according to plan, and is complicated by Travis and his lovelorn fatuation once he discovers this is the same person he just had a one night stand with. Oy. But it doesn’t stop there as Natalie, sensing something might be wrong after talking to Russell on his cell, also jumps into the action when she impulsively shows up and finds herself also at gunpoint.
There are a few twists and turns -literally- in this action flick and the action part of it is perfectly serviceable even if the expected hilarity from two former SNL stars in a dream pairing – young and old comic genius combined – fails to materialize and is mostly left to Davidson to do the heavy lifting. As he demonstrated to a finer degree in The King Of Staten Island, Pete has some real promise as a movie star, but here screenwriters Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider just let him down. He and Murphy, who is playing it in a much lower key than usual, have an easy chemistry and occasional bright moments in the pairing but this is no 48 Hours to be sure.
Director Tim Story (Barbershop, Ride Along) seems much more interested in the road action than in pulling off a smart entry into the well-worn heist genre. In fact the current animated The Bad Guys 2 has a plot with remarkable similarities to this one and pulls it off in superior style compared to The Pickup which may disappoint Murphy fans hoping for the fun he has delivered in the past. The legendary star has actually turned out a lot of terrific movies in this streaming phase of his career including the likeable Candy Cane Lane, Coming 2 America sequel, Dolemite Is My Name, and a terrific comedy I think is way underrated, Kenya Barris’ You People. Sadly The Pickup, despite its cast, seems like a minor entry to his esteemed filmography.
Aside from Murphy and Davidson, Palmer does exactly what is expected from her, and Longoria also survives with dignity intact after being handed a contrived role that no actor could make credible. Give her an ‘A ‘ for effort. Andrew Dice Clay as the armored truck company dispatcher adds a bit of color and energy, while NFL great Marshawn Lynch and WWE personality Joe Anoa’i aka Roman Reigns are also in for brief cameos along the way.
Producers are John Davis, John Fox, Charisse Hewitt-Webster, Murphy, and Story.
Title: The Pickup
Distributor: Amazon MGM Studios
Release Date: August 6, 2025 (streaming Amazon Prime)
Director: Tim Story
Screenplay: Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider
Cast: Eddie Murphy, Pete Davidson, Keke Palmer, Eva Longoria, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Jack Resy, Andrew Dice Clay, Marshawn Lynch, Joe (Roman Reigns) Anoa’i.
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour and 34 minutes
