Review: Eddie Murphy lends talent to holiday hot mess 'Candy Cane Lane'

Seeing Eddie Murphy in a show or movie is always a sign there will be some modicum of fun.

That’s because Murphy is normally the best aspect of any project he appears in — even when that project is a hot mess of sentimentality and holiday cliches, like “Candy Cane Lane,” which began streaming on Amazon Prime Video Friday.

Murphy uses his abundance of charm to prop up a piece of holiday piffle that would have gone unnoticed had most other actors been in its lead. However, the reality of Murphy is that even after bursting on the entertainment scene more than 40 years ago, he still commands the screen through wit and charm, even as he’s mostly abandoned the more profane aspects of his career.

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It took playing debauched comedian Rudy Ray Moore in the 2019 film “Dolemite” to remind audiences how very scandalous and blue Murphy could be. After all, audiences had grown quite comfortable with him providing the voice to Donkey in the animated “Shrek” films, bringing his unique talents to that role.

It’s that charm, charisma and captivating grin that helps “Candy Cane Lane” get through its nearly two hours of run time as it tries to do what seemingly every modern Christmas film attempts — ruminate about the crass commercialism of the holiday season and its true meaning.

Murphy is family man Chris Carver, a father so obsessed with Christmas that he’s given his children Joy (Genneya Walton), Nick (Thaddeus J. Mixon) and Holly (Madison Thomas) assorted holiday themed names. For a kicker: his wife, portrayed by Tracee Ellis Ross, is named Carol.

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Carver has been frustrated in recent years by not being able to win the neighborhood house decorating contest and is determined to do so this year. His hand-constructed decorations can’t seem to catch the eye of judges who apparently prefer the puffery of those blow-up figures that show up on lawns yearly.

That leads him to an obscure decorations pop-up shop run by Pepper (Jillian Bell), who, unbeknownst to Chris, is an exiled elf. Pepper sells him a truckload of decorations that certainly could ensure Chris’ victory, but they unleash Christmas chaos and come with strings that could cost him his life as he knows it.

Yup, that’s a wee bit dark for the holiday season, but three words: “A Christmas Carol.” It took a while for the feel-good holiday payoff to come in that one, didn’t it?

That’s in no way to imply that “Candy Cane Lane” rises to the level of a literary and – depending on the version – cinematic classic (I’ll take “Scrooged”). It is often messy, sometimes non-sensical and could probably do with a trim.

But it does have Eddie Murphy, and at times, that’s enough.

George M. Thomas dabbles in movies and television for the Beacon Journal.

Review

Movie: “Candy Cane Lane”

Cast: Eddie Murphy, Tracee Ellis Ross, Nick Offerman, David Alan Grier

Directed by: Reginald Hudlin

Running time: 1 hour 57 minutes

Rated: PG for language throughout and some suggestive references

Grade: C

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Review: Eddie Murphy lends skills to holiday hot mess 'Candy Cane Lane'