A routine cash pickup takes a wild turn when two mismatched armored truck drivers get ambushed by ruthless criminals. As chaos unfolds around them, the unlikely duo must navigate high-risk danger, clashing personalities, and one very bad day that keeps getting worse.
Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson in the same movie looks to be a recipe for a laugh-a-minute comedy as you imagine big laughs, strong wit and unmatched energy but as The Pickup reaches its conclusion it all feels like quite the missed opportunity.
The film follows Russell (Murphy), a weary armored truck driver counting down the days to retirement, and Travis (Davidson), a keen new rookie partner who joins him on a routine pickup that turns disastrous as they get hijacked. It’s here where they meet Zoe (Keke Palmer) who has eyes on robbing a casino for her own personal reasons and Travis and Russell are now accomplices in this heist crime caper.
On paper this sounds like it’s going to be great and at times there really are flashes of brilliance as the duo just start to bounce off each other in scenes and when Eddie gets into his stride there’s flashes of the Eddie Murphy of old (especially in a brief diner scenes) but sadly it’s short lived as the movie sort of drags itself through a quite simple script and some very questionable CGI.
The Pickup is certainly a film we’ve all seen before but just to see a comedy even made nowadays is a rare feat of movie green lighting and whilst The Pickup certainly doesn’t hit the mark as a strong comedy it’s still amazing to see films like this still being made.
Throughout the movie there were a few laugh out loud moments but there really were few and far between but Murphy certainly looks as though he’s coasting through this film without too much interest.
Pete Davidson however brings a charm (as always) but it’s Keke Palmer who’s the star of the show as she’s very enjoyable to watch and her character arc is actually rather interesting. Whenever she’s on screen she brings a magnetic energy and it’s a shame the script didn’t level up the characters around her to the same high standard.
Most of the opening half of the movie is focused on one particular scene and it does rather drag on and whilst I didn’t get bored (with the help of a few chuckles along the way) the writers don’t really seem to have much direction for the film to go in outside of a very light story.
For a film about a heist the script doesn’t seem to really focus on it as such and all of the twists are things we’ve seen a million times before so the surprise element is non-existent.
The Pickup isn’t a poor movie but it’s certainly a missed opportunity and one film that will be a very predictable 2.5 / 3 out of 5 on many review websites across the world including ours. It just doesn’t quite reach its potential and is easily forgettable.
Our Rating
Summary
Whilst it’ll get a little chuckle here and there as flashes of Eddie Murphy brilliance come to the fold along with Pete Davidson’s sharp wit. The Pickup is a certainly nice to have as comedy movies are few and far between but sadly on this occasion this is a watch once and never again type of film, a rather missed opportunity.
