Meet Dave

Among all the great entertainment in 2008, a few people clearly stood out, including the beautiful and funny Elizabeth Banks. Why was this year good for Elizabeth Banks? Because she was everywhere.

The woman was in six — count 'em, six! — movies that were released this year. Some were ridiculous and silly (Meet Dave with Eddie Murphy, Meet Bill with Aaron Eckhart, Role Models with Paul Rudd) while one was ridiculous and raunchy (Zack and Miri Make a Porno alongside Seth Rogen). She got to be in the sweet movie Definitely, Maybe with Ryan Reynolds, and she did a serious Laura Bush impersonation, with Josh Brolin as her George, in Oliver Stone's W. And in just a few weeks we'll see her play a freaky stepmother in the scary movie The Uninvited.

She's got range and beauty and crazy comedic skills, and I wish every year could bring us this much Elizabeth Banks.

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• Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright were arrested during a bar fight Saturday morning in Shreveport, LA, and charged with the misdemeanor of interfering with police. The actors are in town filming the Oliver Stone movie, W, in which Josh plays President George W. Bush. — Shreveport Times
• Former White House press secretary Tony Snow, 53, died of colon cancer in Washington, DC, Saturday morning. — CitizenSugar
• Hellboy II: The Golden Army won the top spot at the box office this weekend earning an estimated $35.9 million and beating the first Hellboy's opening weekend profits. Eddie Murphy's Meet Dave, which cost $60 million to make, only earned $5.3 million. — BuzzSugar
• Amy Winehouse was seen smoking this weekend, and her father, who collapsed last week due to stress, continues to express his concern over her well being. — PopSugarUK
• Bernie Mac made inappropriate and offensive jokes at a fundraiser for Barack Obama in Chicago Friday night, upsetting many people who were waiting for Barack to come on stage. — AP
• Quentin Tarantino is supposedly flying to France today to meet with father of newborn twins Brad Pitt about starring in a World War II movie called Inglorious Bastards. — Page Six

Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army won the weekend box office with an estimated $35.9 million, not only handily beating the current competition, but also surpassing the first Hellboy's opening weekend earnings ($23.2 million). Yippee! I'm happy for that ragtag group of superheroes.

On the other end of the spectrum was Meet Dave, which Variety described as "one of the worst opening grosses ever for an Eddie Murphy pic." The details are even more painful. Consider this: It cost $60 million to make Meet Dave and it only earned an estimated $5.3 million over the weekend. That's not a pretty picture.

Hancock remained a draw (fun aside: at the movie theater over the weekend, a group of young boys sped past me while one yelled, "Hurry up! I don't want to miss a single second of Hancock!"), coming in second place, followed by the 3-D action flick Journey to the Center of the Earth. Pixar's Wall-E came in at No. 4 followed by Wanted to round out the top five.

Photos courtesy of Universal Pictures

So, full disclosure: I dragged myself to this movie with the lowest of expectations. Things like Norbit and The Adventures of Pluto Nash danced through my mind and I prayed to the comedy gods to spare me a numbingly unfunny experience. I mean, I've just barely recovered from The Love Guru.

And guess what: They sort of heard my prayers. I'm happy to report that Eddie Murphy's new comedy (that even he couldn't bring himself to watch) isn't all that bad. I wouldn't say it's good, either, but my soul is intact and I'm not as worried about the fate of all that is funny, so those are good signs. What's more, I came away with a renewed sense of Eddie Murphy's talent, and I think it's possible he might be back on that screen making me hurt with laughter one of these days.

To see what I think gets in the way of Murphy's hilarity in Meet Dave, making this another one of his forgettable comedies, read more