Best movie of this year hands down!

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Harlem Nights is an ostentatious late-eighties crime comedy written and directed by the affable Eddie Murphy during the apex of his career. The film details the rags-to-riches rise of a crime boss named Sugar Ray (Pryor) and his high swinging Harlem jazz club during the 1920's and 30's. Branding himself as a bit of a bon vivant, Ray willingly embraces illegal hooch, prostitution and gambling. To help him, he takes the young Quick (Murphy), a street tough-turned second-in-command, under his wing. Unfortunately years of easy success brings un-welcomed competition from New York mafia head Bugsy Calhoune (Lerner) and envious scorn from corrupt cops and the white establishment at- large.The plot then hinges on what the denizens of Harlem's bootlegger class will ultimately do to save face. Ray, a fair-minded and uncommonly cautious miscreant wants to gather his chips and skip town while Quick is itching for a fight. Much of the film's moral messaging is dropped in the fast-paced conversations between Ray and Quick - Ray of course being the voice of reason. "What are they gonna put on your tombstone? 'Here lies a man, 27 years old. He died, but he ain't no punk.' Hey man, that's bulls**t." Ray's words tower over the movie like a totem.The mood of Harlem Nights veers wildly from low-brow comedy to a fiery mobster film, even within the same scene. All the while, Eddie Murphy's motor-mouth delivery, Richard Pryor's innocuous bumbling and the gruff inclusion of Red Foxx, keeps the seams of this film from popping open with reckless abandon. It's an uneasy mix. One which nearly breaks its ability to transport in tone-deaf scenes that include Arsenio Hall as a bereaved hood and Della Reese as Sugar Ray's resident madam. It's easy to see why Harlem Nights was initially panned given three generations of comedic giants are on screen yet none go for the big titters.Yet what Harlem Nights accomplishes goes beyond a cursory look at the film's rocky production history (rumor is Pryor and Murphy did not get along). With this film comes a time capsule - a lovingly developed recreation of the Harlem Renaissance as told by those who have a stake in seeing that period on the big screen. Being enveloped by Harlem Nights means visiting the busy epicenter of a foreign country that no longer exists. It's overwhelming, jarring and even a little scary but you can't deny its vibrancy.Thus the language may be a little blue, but it does come with unfettered urgency. The humor may be too broad and mean but it dozily leans on some incredibly lush world-building. There are no big comedic payoffs in the traditional sense, but there is a heart to this picture that channels the oral-history, stubborn divergence and tumult of the Harlem Renaissance. Surely we can give a film a second chance based on that alone, cant we?

Father and son team Sugar Ray (Richard Pryor) and Quick (Eddie Murphy) run a successful gambling establishment which in turn causes them to upset local mobster Bugsy Calhoune (Michael Lerner). Sugar Ray and Quick's lucrative business is netting them between $10,000 and $15,000 and upon learning this, Calhoune demands two thirds of their takings in order for Sugar and Quick to continue trading. Sugar and Quick refuse to give in to Calhoune's unreasonable demands and hatch a cunning plan to take down the notorious mobster.Murphy has certainly put a lot of effort into giving this a 1920's/1930's feel to it; the set designs, vehicles etc all look pretty authentic. It's a shame really that he didn't put as much thought, care or effort into anything else in the film.The first thing I noticed about this film is that Murphy never really seemed sure about what direction he wanted to take the film in; I initially thought that this was going to be some kind of parody of mob life and gangsters (the name Bugsy Calhoune is presumably a play on 'Bugsy Malone'), but aside from the amusing opening scene the film isn't actually very funny and a lot of the time it's far too serious for it to work as an out and out parody. The story in itself isn't a bad one, but Murphy offers very little in the way of tension; the idea of a mob boss who runs New York coming after two small-time business men should present an intimidating scenario, but Calhoune is not a particularly terrifying presence and even when he's supposed to be intimidating Sugar and Quick I never really felt scared for them.The film also takes a very long time to get going and the first half of the film seems a little self-indulgent - there's a lot of fighting and squabbling and lots of things happening in the first half that do little to move things forward - I personally felt that a lot of these things were done for their amusement rather than ours).I think the thing that probably ruined the film the most for me was Arsenio Hall; after putting in a great performance in Coming To America he literally puts in a 'nails on the chalkboard' performance in Harlem Nights. His whiny, irritating character and embarrassing overacting almost single-handedly ruined the film. It could also be argued that Murphy didn't get the best performance out of Richard Pryor either; Pryor is at his best when he's given a character to work with and when he's able to act daft, but Murphy has Pryor playing his character a little too straight and this also makes this a lesser film in my opinion. Like Pryor, Murphy underplays his character slightly and shows more restraint than we're used to seeing from him, but this also works slightly against the picture and results in it being more dull than it should have been. By contrast Danny Aiello probably gave the best performance and seemed to have fun, but without hamming it up.The bottom line is that it falls short on laughs, the dramatic aspects don't work too well and the film lacks any real menace or intensity. Even if you're a fan of Pryor or Murphy I'd still suggest that you skip this one.

This is hilarious entertainment. It features an all-star cast with the three giants of comedy, Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy. You get to see Della Reese, Arsenio Hall, Jasmine Guy and Lela Rochon at their glamorous best as well as Danny Aiello and Michael Lerner as corrupt cop and crime lord respectively. This is Eddie Murphy's directorial debut and it's an admirable turn. The story, I understand, was also written by Murphy. The musical score is the brainchild of Herbie Hancock.The pace of the direction is more naturalistic than mechanistic. There are stretches in the middle where the predominantly African American cast are simply enjoying being family together and this comes across palpably as a good vibe to be enjoyed by all. The lead characters all have good bits and there is plenty of action and shootouts and tricky maneuvers complete with an explosive ending. It's great to see Eddie Murphy as Quick and Richard Pryor as Sugar Ray work their way out of a tight spot between cops on the pay and mobsters working to close down their modest casino operation.At parties all across Detroit during the nineties, this is the film on video that would most often pop up to slip into the VCR to bookend the night. It's a guilty pleasure, admittedly, but blacks love anything where they are seen to be smart enough to outwit whites. Such stories and films fly into the teeth of portrayals of blacks as victims ready made to be exploited in order to service the plot. This movie is underrated because it bucks two themes found as common threads in storytelling involving black males. The first theme is how the angst of the Black Man can be easily manipulated to accomplish his own self-destruction. The second is how it is impossible for the Black Man to survive without the knowing, benign guidance of members of the White Race willing to mentor him. I will leave you to think up your own examples about this.HARLEM NIGHTS successfully reverses these themes and I believe that is why it is a favorite in the black communities. There is an obvious mentor relationship between Pryor and Murphy as both seem to be just one step ahead of their enemies at all times. Sorry Hollywood, but these are the black men and women I grew up knowing and admiring. There is also a sense of extended family in the film. It is just great to see so many well renowned African American entertainers in one film together and we all were hoping this would be the beginning of many more such conventions of black talent as it has proved to be over the years.No, HARLEM NIGHTS is not the wittiest, most sophisticated, urbane comedy about manners and morals you are likely to find. It has something different going for it that makes it a Black Comedy Classic. Firstly, Redd Foxx as the elder statesman of Black Comedy, the legendary Richard Pryor as Master Oral storyteller, and the comic genius of Eddie Murphy. You could say their reputations precede them. This makes it sort of its own historical document. It is its own version of Night at the Apollo Theater on film and feels like it. But instead of watching these performers under the lights, it is like we are backstage just before they go on and are privy to all the banter that goes on between them with all the vulgarisms thrown in for spice.HARLEM NIGHTS is all hustle and gangland polished to a high sheen of black burlesque.

There has never been a film have so many African American classic comedians, actors and celebrities in one film. I really respect and appreciate Eddie Murphy doing this film. It is really good to see so many of these actors looking so good (Robin Harris, Richard Pryor, Redd Fox, etc.). A lot of them or no longer with us. I loved the fact that he put Roberto Duran in for a brief cameo. I loved what Arsenio Hall did as well. It was good to see blacks in a film figuring out how to get their piece of the pie in an already corrupt environment. It was double bad for blacks in that time period. Nice to see that their was a group like this that managed to live well and do their own thing. I hadn't seen anything like it until I saw this film. I feel like there were definitely stories coming out of Hollywood that avoided these kinds of topics.