Dolemite is My Name is a jaunty biography of a forgotten and quirky voice of '70s blaxploitation films, Rudy Ray Moore, a struggling stand-up comic who struck gold with his comedic persona of the rhyming pimp and kung-fu hero Dolemite.

Written by the same screenwriting team behind another nod to a cultish and unconventional filmmaker, Ed Wood, Dolemite is My Name is uproariously funny but also predictable by its very nature. These kinds of feel-good, based-on-truth movies pit determined underdogs against the mighty forces of skepticism and reality, and almost always turn out well for the put-upon protagonists. But its top-notch cast of comic actors has so much fun playing what amounts to characters from a sketch comedy that the film's need to please and other deficiencies are easy to overlook.

That is the surface-level take on the new Netflix film, which beginning today is available on the streaming service following its brief theatrical run that did not include Toledo. And, frankly, none of it really matters, because Dolemite is My Name is not really about Dolemite or Moore. This is about Eddie Murphy, the brilliantly gifted comic actor who channels the character and its creator with a brash, bold, and spectacular return-to-his-roots performance.

Moore was a down-on-his-luck stand-up who managed a record store during the day and served as an emcee at a local night club while dreaming of making it big as a performer. He finds inspiration for Dolemite in a neighborhood homeless man, who is fond of regaling anyone within earshot of stories and exploits of Dolemite, the baddest of the bads, in a poetic rhythm and flourish, as if Homer's The Odyssey was born of the streets.

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Moore's vision for Dolemite is as a city-wise African-American tall tale, complete with pimp cane and fashion, kung-fu adventures, and florid exploits, whose loud boasts are standalone punchlines that escalate in their outrageousness. And the test audiences at the nightclub eat it up. Moore knows he's on to something big with the Dolemite character, and with some help from some local and probably shady businessmen as investors, he launches Dolemite's comedy career in a series of comedy albums that play well in black neighborhoods but will never get played on more conventional white radio stations.

A trip to the theater to see an all-white comedy convinces Moore that Dolemite's voice will resonate with black audiences that Hollywood is ignoring. And so begins his ultimate quest: To take Dolemite from the small stage to the biggest stage as the star of his own film.

To do it he'll recruit a local playwright and activist Jerry Jones (Keegan-Michael Key) to write the script, and a blaxploitation actor D'Urville Martin (Wesley Snipes) to direct it. Both Jones and Martin are reluctant at first, but one of them comes around. He will cast a woman named Lady Reed (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) — whom he met at a nightclub after she accosted her no-good ex — in the film, along with his other friends as part of his makeshift crew and costars including a musician Ben Taylor (Craig Robinson), an accountant Theodore Toney (Tituss Burgess), and a fellow entertainer Jimmy Lynch (Mike Epps).

And while it seems implausible that this would ever work, it does. Moore's Dolemite was a huge success and spawned several more films, attracting audiences including a young Murphy, who has long wanted to make Dolemite is My Name.

The wait to see the project through works in the comedian’s favor: An older and eager Murphy befits the onscreen role and his performance, and in Dolemite is My Name, he delivers one of the best films in his career — certainly the best in at least a decade, if not two (1999’s forgotten comedy pairing with Steve Martin in Bowfinger).

The comic actor is funny, smart, suave, and engaging, and director Craig Brewer is content to stay out of his way. 

While Dolemite may be the name, this is about Eddie Murphy being Eddie Murphy

First Published October 25, 2019, 12:00 p.m.