There was once a time, many moons ago, when someone said the name “Eddie Murphy” and people started laughing. They would think of him getting thrown through a plate glass window in Beverly Hills Cop, or on Saturday Night Live as Mr. Robinson, the black Mr. Rogers, and they would laugh. These days, if you stop on a crowded street and say, “Eddie Murphy,” you’re liable to get punched in the face. Outside of a well-received dramatic turn in 2006’s Dreamgirls, Eddie Murphy has been starring in bad comedies and family movies for over a decade now. This summer, when Eddie Murphy’s new film, Meet Dave, opens…that trend will continue.

IMDB provides this synopsis:

A crew of miniature aliens operate a spaceship that has a human form. While trying to save their planet, the aliens encounter a new problem, as their ship becomes smitten with an Earth woman (Elizabeth Banks).

It’s the same old story: Aliens build spaceship, spaceship meets girl, girl falls in love with spaceship, things workout somehow, probably with the miniature alien Eddie Murphy calling Rick Moranis from Honey, I Blew Up The Kid to make him normal-sized. She’ll never know the difference!

The film is directed by Brian Robbins, whose resume seriously just made me vomit. Directorial credits include Varsity Blues, Ready To Rumble, Hard Ball, The Perfect Score, The Shaggy Dog, and most recently (and notably!) Norbit. Evidently Eddie Murphy liked the end result of that movie enough to make another with the same doofus. But, if the plot synopsis and the choice of director didn’t instill you with confidence towards the quality of the film, the studio has made available a trailer for you here. Yeah, it doesn’t help.

While it looks like a singularly awful piece of filmmaking, aside from the gorgeous and hilarious Elizabeth Banks, there’s one thing I don’t understand: if they are miniature aliens, not earthlings, they would know nothing of Earth culture, right? In the beginning of the trailer the “Dave” spaceship imitates the people he walks by. So why would Gabrielle Union’s character, a miniature alien, shout, “Yeah boi, yeah!” and jump up in down in the spaceship? Shouldn’t she have no knowledge of black culture, let alone Flavor Flav? Hopefully the film will answer these burning questions.