Eddie Murphy plays Jack McCall, a literary agent who doesn't read, who evaluates books by reading the first 5 pages and the last 5 pages. He is a selfish, self-absorbed, smooth talker with a good wife (Kerry Washington) a son, a house, and a decent life. He attempts to land a big client, a New Age guru named Dr. Sinja (Cliff Curtis) which somehow leads to the plot development that fuels the movie: a tree lands in his backyard which loses leaves every time he says a word. And somehow (not sure it is explained how he would know this) the death of the leaves on the tree will also lead to his own death. And boom, we have the title and the plot of the movie. He has a thousand words left, and the whole rest of the movie to figure out how to prevent this, or at least stave it off, to mixed results.
Clark Duke plays MacGee's assistant, and is pretty hilarious—I like the part where Murphy has him doing the talking in a big meeting, which of course is a total disaster. There are funny moments with Murphy trying to come up with ways to avoid using words: while doing his job, while trying to keep things straight with his wife, while ordering a drink from the confused but well-meaning Starbucks Clerk (Jack McBrayer). To avoid unnecessary speaking, he uses pantomime, he uses talking dolls, he makes drawings, but sooner or later he comes down to his last few leaves on the tree, which he must use wisely There is also a sort of touching relationship with McCall's Alzheimer's suffering mother, and some back-story about the strained relationship with the deceased father. It would be OK if it didn't fit so neatly into the formula of this kind of movie which requires there to be redemption for the movie to be tidily resolved.
The whole premise is not meant to be taken seriously, but even with that said, this is pretty thin. It is a pretty standard by-the- numbers Hollywood movie, along the lines of Liar, Liar. It's not horrible. Clark Duke is pretty much the best thing in the movie, and I have to say, Eddie Murphy seems to do the best he can to make something with this pretty crappy plot. If the movie fails (which it kind of does) it is not the fault of the performers. It's just not a very good movie because it's not a good script.
I watched this movie as a captive audience at my last jury duty service. I made a deal with myself that if I did not get picked, I would review this movie. I didn't get picked. So here you go.
Clark Duke plays MacGee's assistant, and is pretty hilarious—I like the part where Murphy has him doing the talking in a big meeting, which of course is a total disaster. There are funny moments with Murphy trying to come up with ways to avoid using words: while doing his job, while trying to keep things straight with his wife, while ordering a drink from the confused but well-meaning Starbucks Clerk (Jack McBrayer). To avoid unnecessary speaking, he uses pantomime, he uses talking dolls, he makes drawings, but sooner or later he comes down to his last few leaves on the tree, which he must use wisely There is also a sort of touching relationship with McCall's Alzheimer's suffering mother, and some back-story about the strained relationship with the deceased father. It would be OK if it didn't fit so neatly into the formula of this kind of movie which requires there to be redemption for the movie to be tidily resolved.
The whole premise is not meant to be taken seriously, but even with that said, this is pretty thin. It is a pretty standard by-the- numbers Hollywood movie, along the lines of Liar, Liar. It's not horrible. Clark Duke is pretty much the best thing in the movie, and I have to say, Eddie Murphy seems to do the best he can to make something with this pretty crappy plot. If the movie fails (which it kind of does) it is not the fault of the performers. It's just not a very good movie because it's not a good script.
I watched this movie as a captive audience at my last jury duty service. I made a deal with myself that if I did not get picked, I would review this movie. I didn't get picked. So here you go.