The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002)

Directed by Ron Underwood. Starring Eddie Murphy, Rosario Dawson, Randy Quaid, Luis Guzmán, Jay Mohr, Joe Pantoliano, James Rebhorn, John Cleese, Pam Grier, Victor Varnado, Peter Boyle, Illeana Douglas, Jacynthe René, Miguel A. Núñez Jr. [PG-13]

Roughly $100 million was flushed down the toilet making this hideous stinker of a sci-fi-comedy-crime-action vehicle where Murphy plays a smuggler-turned-nightclub-owner on the moon who lands in the cross-hairs of some gangsters after refusing to sell to an inscrutable criminal entrepreneur. The filmmakers keep throwing in new set pieces and characters to disguise how thin and stupid the storyline is; boring production design, unconvincing special effects, and flatlining action make for poor filler stuffed between all the weak ideas and unfunny jokes. How a cast with as much talent as this one was unable to produce something of worth doesn’t speak well for the script, which has all the signs of being incomplete when filming started, frantically rewritten on a day-to-day basis (one can imagine that when Dawson utters, “I think I’m gonna be sick” about an hour into the movie, that was when the final script was presented to the actors and crew). A sight gag for “Trump Realty” has dated badly, but there’s good news for anyone who really wants to see Randy Quaid play a horny robot: he, um, plays a horny robot. Features cameos from Burt Young and a shrewdly uncredited Alec Baldwin.

10/100