So why, some may ask, did I see this movie if I thought it wasn't going to be very good? I generally like Eddie Murphy, ever since his Beverly Hills Cops days, and I figured there would be some entertainment value, and there is. I also got it as a "free" DVD rental from my public library.
Eddie Murphy is motor-mouth Jack McCall who by his own admission can sell just about any idea to anybody. He makes his living buying rights to books, but never reads them, he has an assistant for that. Plus, he thinks if the first 5 pages are good, and the last 5 pages are good, then the book is a winner.
Pretty Kerry Washington (16 years younger) is his wife Caroline McCall . They have a cute new baby and it seems to be getting time for Jack to settle down a bit more. This isn't the cause of Jack's eventual problem, but it exacerbates his task.
Jack is after a well-known guru and wants to publish his book, a book Jack says he read and loves but in truth has never seen. "Honesty" is all relative with Jack, and usually it is relatively unimportant. Somehow, and we don't really know how, since the guru claims no responsibility, this medium-sized tree suddenly springs up out of the ground in Jack's back yard. It makes such a commotion that at first Jack thinks it is an Earthquake. But the tree is magical, it IS Jack, when he tries to chop it down Jack gets the ax mark on his hip.
The most obvious feature is, Jack notices quickly, for every word Jack says a leaf falls off. When he finally gets the guru there to examine the situation, they estimate the tree only has 1000 leaves left, so Jack has about 1000 words left, then the tree and he will both die.
So that is the whole premise and the movie is either funny or not funny depending on how Jack handles each situation, not being able to talk and not really being able to explain his situation.
I was entertained, there is a core of message there, of being true to yourself and those important to you, wife, children, parents, friends. But overall not a particularly good movie.
SPOILERS: As Jack's tree gets closer to losing all its leaves, and Jack's attempts to reverse the process by doing "good works" fails, he resigns to the tree and he dying. So he uses his last few words to comfort his mom and to tell his wife he would love her forever. That turns out to be his redemption, he dies as the tree dies, but both are quickly reborn, a healthy tree and a healthy Jack, destined to be a better person. Sort of a 'Groundhog Day' type of salvation.
Eddie Murphy is motor-mouth Jack McCall who by his own admission can sell just about any idea to anybody. He makes his living buying rights to books, but never reads them, he has an assistant for that. Plus, he thinks if the first 5 pages are good, and the last 5 pages are good, then the book is a winner.
Pretty Kerry Washington (16 years younger) is his wife Caroline McCall . They have a cute new baby and it seems to be getting time for Jack to settle down a bit more. This isn't the cause of Jack's eventual problem, but it exacerbates his task.
Jack is after a well-known guru and wants to publish his book, a book Jack says he read and loves but in truth has never seen. "Honesty" is all relative with Jack, and usually it is relatively unimportant. Somehow, and we don't really know how, since the guru claims no responsibility, this medium-sized tree suddenly springs up out of the ground in Jack's back yard. It makes such a commotion that at first Jack thinks it is an Earthquake. But the tree is magical, it IS Jack, when he tries to chop it down Jack gets the ax mark on his hip.
The most obvious feature is, Jack notices quickly, for every word Jack says a leaf falls off. When he finally gets the guru there to examine the situation, they estimate the tree only has 1000 leaves left, so Jack has about 1000 words left, then the tree and he will both die.
So that is the whole premise and the movie is either funny or not funny depending on how Jack handles each situation, not being able to talk and not really being able to explain his situation.
I was entertained, there is a core of message there, of being true to yourself and those important to you, wife, children, parents, friends. But overall not a particularly good movie.
SPOILERS: As Jack's tree gets closer to losing all its leaves, and Jack's attempts to reverse the process by doing "good works" fails, he resigns to the tree and he dying. So he uses his last few words to comfort his mom and to tell his wife he would love her forever. That turns out to be his redemption, he dies as the tree dies, but both are quickly reborn, a healthy tree and a healthy Jack, destined to be a better person. Sort of a 'Groundhog Day' type of salvation.