Jay Rohr
The Pickup calls to mind competitive strength sports. This flimsy, frankly been-there-done-better-elsewhere, premise doesn’t have any visual style to keep it compelling. As such, the cast is left to do all the heavy lifting. With a veteran, dare say legend, like Eddie Murphy at the forefront that seems like a reasonable expectation. However, the Herculean demands of hoisting this abysmal picture out of the depths of dullness are too much even for him.
The central premise centers on a standard buddy comedy cliché of mismatched personalities. Murphy plays Russell Pierce, a stern veteran armored car guard, paired for the day with irresponsible goofball Travis Stolly (Pete Davidson). While traveling their route, the duo come under assault by bandits. Circumstances eventually force them to take part in the heist, and the guards must find a way to work together to escape their predicament.
Narratively, the paper-thin premise barely holds together. The details of the main heist include contrivances designed simply to force action sequences. It comes across like a jellyfish sting the audience is expected to ignore. There are essentially two heist movies being jammed together and while that could work, instead of finding connecting pieces, the filmmakers have just hammered jigsaws together.
Contrived plot points aiming at action would be acceptable if the big set pieces were engaging. Most of the so-called thrills in The Pickup are barely worth a glance. The car chases come across like automobile ads, featuring vehicles rather than imperiling them. Any collisions or crackups reek of stunt setups that aren’t very spectacular. So much of the film centers on car-oriented action, yet the movie constantly feels like a low budget flick trying not to strain its meager purse. In other words, The Pickup always seems to be holding back instead of taking interesting chances.
Perhaps that’s partly because director Tim Story (Barbershop, Taxi, Fantastic Four) doesn’t understand how to shoot the primary action portions. Cars zip by the camera as if that’s enough. There’s no sense of orientation, operation, the speed, or terror just vehicles in motion. The standards set by John Frankenheimer may be high, but he left behind a formula anyone can follow.
Unable to capture any interesting action, it’s no surprise Tim Story does little else when it comes to cinematic style. The Pickup never includes captivating camera work. Again, there’s hardly ever a sense of energy as the director relies on what’s happening instead of helping it intensify.
The Pickup feels like a curious glimpse of the future of films, especially by studios like Amazon MGM. Big name talents alongside recognizable performers in movies that are never developed beyond the pitch meeting. It’s easy to envision someone tossing out the idea, throwing around other titles like Ambulance, Armored, Den of Thieves, then maybe a dash of 1986’s Armed and Dangerous. Afterwards, no other effort goes into the script.
There isn’t a single indication The Pickup was polished beyond an outline. It often feels like major moments are simply banking on Eddie Murphy to carry the movie with ad libs. Perhaps Pete Davidson was assumed to take up any slack, yet according to a press junket, almost everything he added to the film ended up on the cutting room floor. What’s frustrating are the glimpses of what could have been. Every so often brief glimmers of potential shine in the sewage pouring out of the screen.
Possible character depths flicker into view. Jokes actually land courtesy of snappy dialogue. Some semblance of tension presents before immediately evaporating. Yet, none of it amounts to enough to make the movie compelling.
More often, no one ever really feels in danger. When things go wrong an instant solution arrives. Meanwhile, any difficulties that pop up are predictable well before their arrival. Worse, as subjective as comedy is, it’s hard to imagine anyone regularly laughing throughout The Pickup. Essentially, clichéd characters without interesting motivations go through the motions of a hackneyed action plot while annoying the audience with unfunny comedy.
Keke Palmer (One of Them Days) does her best but can’t elevate the bad material dragging down her performance. Eva Langoria (Only Murderers in the Building) pops up in a part closer to cameo than a role. It’s unlikely this will appear at the top of her resume. Andrew Dice Clay (The Adventures of Ford Fairlane) has a minor role as Clark, the head of the armored car service. He’s fine as a brusque unpleasant boss but trying to glean what exactly inspired his casting is far more fascinating than his part or performance. Personally, I find it hard to believe anyone was clamoring for his return to the screen.
Pete Davidson of Saturday Night Live fame pulls out a stock character, both for him and film. It’s entirely possible his part would be more interesting if anything about him were explored but the film has no real interest in Travis. In addition, as already mentioned, his main contributions comedically were all cut from the movie. The few that were kept hint at material raunchier than the filmmakers wanted to risk, and those are among the scarce occasions The Pickup is funny.
Eddie Murphy (Beverly Hills Cop) seems to take a risk, aiming at a drier performance than normal. Occasionally, he slips into his usual comedic strengths, but too infrequently to save this flick. He and Davidson never really get a moment to bounce off one another or depend on the other’s quirks which is what makes a buddy action-comedy work. There’re constantly just two guys with no real relationship in a situation together.
The Pickup provides a certain degree of nostalgia, though not in the way it wants. This throwback action-comedy reminds of a period in Eddie Murphy’s career when he couldn’t muster a box office hit if his life depended on it. Consequently, boring stylization, lackluster action, and imperceptible comedy gnaw away 94 minutes. The Pickup drops a gold nugget in the gutter. Every attempt at retrieval kicks it towards the sewer. Don’t go down after it.
