Eddie Murphy, reduced to picking up scripts dumped in the trash by Jim Carrey?

You know the film is really going to suck when the leaden "moral" is handed to you like a rotting plate of cabbage during the freaking TRAILER.

You also know the film is going to be a stunning waste of your time and money when it's easy to substitute the poor schlub playing the main character with Jim Carrey. (Seriously, tell me that this film doesn't have "written for Carrey but he was too busy negotiating Ace Ventura III to return our calls" written all over it.)

And you know for SURE that this film is from the Tweak this line, tear out a few pages here, adjust Scene II and substitute black actors for white ones dustbin of Overused Ideas when it involves some magical spell dropping the Sledgehammer of Change Your Ways Or Else on a guy better known for comedy than Straight To Hallmark Video "message" films. I mean, tell me how this plate of Been There Done That is any different from Bruce Almighty, Evan Almighty, Liar Liar, The Tooth Fairy, etc. etc. ETC. Principle Male Character is a total ass. Principle Male Character gets visit from Supernatural Being who for some reason, never fully explained, is taking time off from dealing with world hunger, disease, and poverty to Teach Principle Male Character A Valuable Lesson. Lesson Ultimately Learned, making the World a Better Place for Approximately Six People. Well, thank goodness.

It sure doesn't help my mood that this warmed-over dreck "stars" Eddie Murphy. It was only a few years ago that Murphy was up for a Best Actor Award for his role in Dreamgirls. Apparently Murphy has decided that awards are all well and good, but he's still in this for the money, after all. Carrey I think got the same idea after The Truman Show and The Majestic- that it's fun to be taken seriously for a while, but slapstick garbage is where the big bucks are- so it was on to The Grinch and the aforementioned Liar Liar. Aim low and keep the dough rolling in, I guess. But it won't be any of MY money, I can promise you that. Because movies cost upwards of $10 nowadays, and one has to be choosy concerning which cheesy, manipulative garbage one throws that kind of money, and a perfectly good Saturday night, at. This cliche-fest doesn't make the cut, sorry.