Veteran director Tim Story’s new film The Pickup just dropped with a stacked roster. The movie stars Keke Palmer, Pete Davidson, and the comedy legend himself, Eddie Murphy. Yes, the man is still alive and acting. The story follows New Jersey veteran truck driver Russel (Murphey), and his overly eager, lovesick math genius Travis (Davidson). What starts as a low-key cash grab turns into Palmer’s character hijacking their lifelines. It’s a sprayed with bullet old school action-comedy that would’ve once killed it at the video rental store. The done-before duo with an incomplete plan and some car chases. It’s the DVD that would’ve sat front and center at the Blockbuster counter. However, today it’s a misfire.
The story never quite lands. The heist aspects felt flat, and it appeared as if the film couldn’t pick its drama. It wanted laughs, thrills, some serious notes, but none of it stuck. Critics have unanimously reported that this could be an all-time career low for Murphy. “The Pickup is easily Eddie Murphy’s worst movie,” reported The Guardian. His performance felt faint. Like a forced cameo instead of the man carrying the story.
The chemistry between the two leads (Murphy and Davidson) carried little spark. They entered as the classic opposite duo, but their banter never quite found its beat. There’s never an opportunity for the duo heist to come alive because of mismatched energy. The timing is consistently off for Davidson’s character. While Screenrant states that his acting roles are “just exaggerated versions of himself,” this one felt like his head was in another film completely.
On the genre front, a comedy heist is usually a hit on the big screens. However, the attempts at romance leaping to stunt segments came across as an overall tone whiplash. It’s hard to get an idea of an overall point when you’re unsure of the plot you’re supposed to be following. The heist chases slowed down at so many points that every explosion blew anticlimactic. Critics noted plot holes as well. A large one being that we’re forced to roll with the concept that an armored compact vehicle had zero communication to its home base, and little to no security. It takes so much time trying to make sense of this idea that before you know it, 90 minutes have passed and the curtain is rolling back down.
To be fair, there are glimmers of promise in The Pickup as well. It isn’t done without charm, completely. The tools for a quirky two-man heist with some sick chase sequences and explosions were there. Keke Palmer’s performance carried the movie, and her charisma shines through her entire time on screen. Director Tim Story is the man behind crowd-pleasers like The Fantastic Four and Ride Along, and it’s no secret he has gained respect through his record of ensemble comedies. But despite all of it, this one unfortunately never quite found its swing and inevitably struck out when it landed in the audience for review.
In the end, The Pickup did leave relics of those sweet Friday night trips to Blockbuster. There’s a charming nostalgia of remembrance to a time when a star name and 90 minutes on screen were enough to be labeled a big hit. But with the film industry changing, small studio comedies are being quickly replaced by million-dollar franchises with unlimited resources. Nostalgia won’t be enough to carry cinema forever. Perhaps the real heist of The Pickup was the time it stole from the past. The sweet stolen memory of securing the last DVD on the shelf.
Editorial Note: Portions of this article were reviewed and refined using AI-assisted editing tools to support grammar, clarity, and style. All content has been fact-checked and approved by our editorial team.
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