THE PICKUP

Producers: John Davis, John Fox, Eddie Murphy, Tim Story and Charisse Hewitt-Webster  Director: Tim Story   Screenplay: Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider   Cast: Eddie Murphy, Pete Davidson, Keke Palmer, Eva Longoria, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Jack Kesy, Andrew Dice Clay, Marshawn Lynch and Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’I   Distributor: Amazon Prime Video

Grade: C

As far as mismatched-buddies action-comedies go, Tim Story’s “The Pickup” isn’t the worst of the lot; though the laughs are in surprisingly short supply, given the presence of Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson, the frequent action scenes are pretty well handled.  But compared to the best examples of the hybrid genre, it’s a fairly tepid ride.

Murphy and Davidson play Russell Pierce and Travis Stolly, armored car drivers paired for the first time at a company run by aggressive bully Clark (Andrew Dice Clay).  Russell’s the stern veteran, anxious to finish the day’s run on time to make an anniversary dinner with his wife Natalie (Eva Longoria).  Travis is the young screw-up who’s failed to become a real cop in a police-minded family and is happy to be coupled with a legend like Russell.  He’s also in a good mood after having enjoyed a rare sexual romp with Zoe (Keke Palmer), a beautiful woman he’d met “cute” at a bank the previous morning—he’d pulled a gun on her when he thought she was robbing him, though she was only passing him a note with her phone number.

The trip across New Jersey does not go well.  After they exchange a good deal of bland banter, mostly consisting of Russell’s growing impatience with Travis’ stream of blather, the car is attacked by a couple of SUVs housing SWAT-attired bandits determined to bring it to a halt on an isolated patch of road.  The pair do a pretty good job of fighting their way out of the trap, with Travis showing some driving skill and Russell engaging in heroic efforts to eliminate the two guys, Banner and Miguel (Jack Casey and Ismael Cruz Córdova) trying to break in (one of the funniest bits in the movie is Murphy’s extended complaint about the damage his physical exertions have done to his fifty-year old body, a throwback to the riffs the actor mastered back in the day).  But they nevertheless wind up captured by the ringleader of the assault—none other than Zoe, who used her time with dim-bulb Travis to pump him for useful information.  Naturally, he’s anxious that Russell not learn of that, especially after she insists that they replace the two confederates they’ve eliminated from the operation.

Zoe explains that the purpose of her scheme isn’t to steal the car’s contents, but to use it to pick up a huge sum of cash from an Atlantic City casino.  But she has a good reason: she says the place shafted her father, a former security guard there, by denying him the recognition and benefits he earned years before.  Whether the tale is true or not, they reluctantly agree to her demands, and proceed to the casino where, while jumping through hoops to get the cash, they have a brief encounter with an MMA champion scheduled for a bout there.  He’s played by pro wrestler Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’I, whose cameo just might add to Amazon Prime’s viewership.

Naturally the heist, hardly the complicated stuff of which “Oceans” movies are made, doesn’t end things.  Not only do Banner and Miguel show up, angry at having been jettisoned from a highly lucrative venture, but so does Natalie, suspicious of why her husband has postponed his return for their planned celebration.  Lots of gunfire, fights and vehicular damage occurs before all is resolved to the satisfaction of the good guys—including Zoe, of course.  There’s also a coda indicating that Russell will enjoy a happy retirement with Natalie. 

Though Murphy is presumably the main attraction here, except for a few rants and reactions he actually plays second fiddle to Davidson and Palmer, whose chemistry might not be red-hot but otherwise play to their strengths reasonably well.  While Longoria has a few tasty moments as the feisty wife who thinks she might have been wronged, the numerous inserts devoted to Clay’s raging boss act like a succession of speed bumps in the action that Story and editor Craig Alpert already have a hard time moving ahead at maximum velocity because of the sedate expository scenes in Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider’s script.  Otherwise the movie’s fairly accomplished from a technical perspective, with a decent production design (Clay A. Griffith) and cinematography (Larry Blanford), as well as a score by Christopher Lennertz that follows the genre tropes note for note and decibel for decibel.    

“The Pickup” can’t hold a candle to pictures like Murphy’s “Beverly Hills Cop” or other similar favorites, but as far as armored car heist movies go, consider yourself lucky that you’re watching it, as mediocre as it is, rather than last year’s “Armor” with Sylvester Stallone, which played things deadeningly straight.  At least this one has a few intentional laughs, though not enough of them.