Featured Audience Ratings

• Cynthia S

  
  Eddie Murphy. What happened to your taste in movie roles? This was the stupidest movie..not funny at all. Just stupid.

• Phil H

  
  Its amazing how far and low Eddie Murphy has fallen, this guy used to be an action/comedy star, now he churns out straight to DVD rubbish. This film was made in 2008 yet due to major studio issues it wasn't released until last year 2012! now that's unlucky. To be honest the… More
  Its amazing how far and low Eddie Murphy has fallen, this guy used to be an action/comedy star, now he churns out straight to DVD rubbish. This film was made in 2008 yet due to major studio issues it wasn't released until last year 2012! now that's unlucky. To be honest the film isn't all that bad, there is a nice spiritual Buddist/Hindu flow through the plot which is simple yet effective. Its an easy going 'Scrooge' type affair really, Murphy is a fast talking slick literacy agent ('Jack') who stretches the truth to make his deals. He gets his comeuppance when he tries his usual spiel on an Indian Guru and ends up getting cursed. The curse being a Bodhi tree appearing in his garden, from there on every word 'Jack' utters a leaf drops from the tree, the tree dies as the leaves drop...and so does 'Jack'. Once 'Jack' realises his situation the tree only has 1000 leafs left, thus he must try not to speak anymore and hilarity prevails. Seen something like this before you say? yep you would be right, the plot is very much like Jim Carrey vehicles 'Liar Liar' and 'Yes Man'. In fact this film could have easily been a Jim Carrey vehicle, the plot is perfect for him, its virtually 'Liar Liar' all over again, to a degree. Murphy is wasted here as his best asset is his loud mouth, without it he's rather dull. The problem is Murphy doesn't have the rubber faced skills of Carrey (who would have fitted this much better) to fall back on. The laughs are very predictable as you can imagine but as said Murphy can't really pull them off very well, he's not that kind of visual comedian. The plot is sweet but again incredibly predictable and ends up being very very mushy towards the end, in fact I still don't quite know what Murphy's character really achieves to reverse his curse. Cliff Curtis as 'Dr. Sinja' is a nice cast choice but you almost feel the role could be given to Morgan Freeman as the character is pretty much the same as his 'Bruce Almighty' role. Lets be honest the whole cast of 'Bruce Almighty' or even 'The Truman Show' could replace the cast for this film and it probably would have done much better. Its nice to see some Hindu/Buddist imagery and religious culture in this film but that can't really save it. A bad choice in casting lets the film down hugely, on one hand it could have been a sensible emotional drama, on the other a great comedy. In the end its neither and simple below average, its annoying as there is a nice story in here too.

• Bruce B

  
  Pretty sad to see just how bad Eddie Murphy's acting has become. This film was a complete disappointment. If you have 1 hr 31 min to waste then this is your film. 2 stars 8-24-12

• Alexander D

  
  Once upon a time, Eddie Murphy was a spectacular comedian. As with many other comedians, his career began in the 1980s with still critically and publicly acclaimed hits such as Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America. That all changed in 1998, when Murphy began veering his comedy… More
  Once upon a time, Eddie Murphy was a spectacular comedian. As with many other comedians, his career began in the 1980s with still critically and publicly acclaimed hits such as Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America. That all changed in 1998, when Murphy began veering his comedy more toward family territory. The result: several flops such as a Doctor Dolittle remake, Dr. Dolittle 2, Daddy Day Care, The Haunted Mansion, Meet Dave, and Imagine That. We've forgotten most, if not all of these existed despite their recency; looking at how well that page out of Encyclopedia Craptastica was received by critics in general, those six films average out to a decimal slightly below 31% approval, with scores of 44% at best and 13% at worst. Last year we were taken by surprise. Many of us may have gotten used to Murphy's newfound lack of true comedy and skipped Tower Heist, a film in which he was ironically the standout. I still consider buying the film on DVD from time to time, just to have access to those laughs we haven't seen since his motor-mouthed days of stand-up comedy and Saturday Night Live, before remembering that his Atlas-esque ability to carry the entire film over his own two shoulders, was virtually the only reason that movie was commendable. Needless to say, Tower Heist was all too promising. Perhaps it was a way to get our hopes up for another Murphy movie, even if that meant he, an actor known best for his hilarious characters who don't know when or how to shut up, has to abide by silence for almost an entire movie. Thankfully the film has something to joke about in its concept, if nothing else, but that joke is all on Eddie Murphy, who heavily succumbs to it. Let's call this A Thousand Turds for the sake of aptness. A Thousand Words tries its hand at awe-inspiring quirk several times, only to go in a direction completely unintended. You can't expect Eddie Murphy to star in a moving dramedy that uses a thought-provoking script to have an audience make sense of things themselves. For better or for worse, that was realized, and the film acts instead in the drag of a (Austin Powers fans, I believe this would be the perfect moment for "Mini-Me" air quotes) "cooo-meee-dyyyy" that tosses characters and events out so randomly, it makes the deus ex machina tactic seem brilliantly unconventional and genuine. We start with Jack McCall (Eddie Murphy), a hard-working family man devoted to his beautiful wife (Kerry Washington) and adorable toddler son (Emanuel Ragsdale). He is an important figure at an oh-so-busy publishing company, and in some of his spare time, he visits a psychiatrist. The scenes depicting his psychiatric support are intended to make us laugh, but somehow, the throwback to the classic motor mouth is downright annoying. Jack is visited by a genie-type figure and a tree with a thousand leaves that has suddenly grown in his garden. The genie soon hints at why the tree is there: some sort of spiritual nonsense along the lines of, "We, the gods, hereby declare that we are sick and tired of you and we want you to shut up for just three days." His life, for the next three days, relies on the tree, and whatever happens to it, happens to him as well, and whatever the tree feels, he feels as well. You could correctly guess that on several occasions, we find him humiliating himself in front of his co-workers, when squirrels dig themselves into the tree or people come by and spray it with fertilizer. What really holds Jack's life by a thread is that whenever he speaks a word, a tree loses a leaf (once he's discovered this, at least two-hundred leaves have already vanished), and when there are no leaves left, he dies as well. I guess it's crucial to repeat that this itself is essentially a one-joke movie, but even amongst the poor acting and script, it's even worse because of how terrible that one joke is. We want Eddie Murphy to speak. The short little snippets and nonsense words he blurts out when necessary (if you couldn't predict that his character gets begged to speak throughout the entire movie, you probably haven't seen very many movies at all) simply are not enough. It's like watching an Olympic swimming match on TV, with a camera that is constantly cutting over to shots of Michael Phelps sitting out in a wheelchair. We begin to lose interest at the rate the leaves fall. read the rest at themoviefreakblog.com

• Everett J

  
  I've always been an Eddie Murphy fan, but I must say, his movies lately have really stunk. "A Thousand Words" is the latest example of that, as this movie aims to be funny, sweet, and charming, and fails miserably. Murphy stars as Jack, a literary agent trying to sign… More
  I've always been an Eddie Murphy fan, but I must say, his movies lately have really stunk. "A Thousand Words" is the latest example of that, as this movie aims to be funny, sweet, and charming, and fails miserably. Murphy stars as Jack, a literary agent trying to sign a new age guru, Dr. Sinja(Cliff Curtis). Then a tree grows in Jack's front yard, and every time he speaks a leaf falls. Once all the leaves fall, the tree dies and so does Jack. Stupid? Very! Murphy tries to make the movie funny as he tries to communicate in weird ways. But, he never writes a note or sends a text message, something like this makes this movie with no logic, even more hard to believe. The acting is terrible as the supporting cast are all bad, and Murphy just looks like he is going through the motions and doesn't resemble the same guy he used to be. I'm all for comedians doing more family friendly movies, but at least make them entertaining. I doubt even kids like this movie. Heck, it has 0% on the rotten tomato meter. That alone should tell you to stay away, far away from this.

• John H

  
  Despite what the trailer might have lead on to believe, A Thousand Words isn't really a comedy about a how hard it is for a business man not to talk. Instead it's a frustratingly tedious poem brought to the big screen where everyone's made out to be the bad guy always… More
  Despite what the trailer might have lead on to believe, A Thousand Words isn't really a comedy about a how hard it is for a business man not to talk. Instead it's a frustratingly tedious poem brought to the big screen where everyone's made out to be the bad guy always jumping to conclusions ultimately having the constant miscommunication ruin the protagonist's life. And as angry I got at the cast and script for squeezing my head the whole movie, Eddie Murphy's epiphany at the end aggravated me the most.

• Dead A

  
  I wouldn't say this was the best but it was a decent comedy movie and I actually liked the ending where Jack McCall used his last words wisely.

• Manu G

  
  He only has 1000 words left to discover what matters most. Surprisingly better than what I expected! Overall, A Thousand Words is a decent comedy, not the best or the crudest mind you, but still decent. The nice balance of drama and comedy, on top of some good character development… More
  He only has 1000 words left to discover what matters most. Surprisingly better than what I expected! Overall, A Thousand Words is a decent comedy, not the best or the crudest mind you, but still decent. The nice balance of drama and comedy, on top of some good character development and clever use of props and the environment were very entertaining for me. Yes, it's the same predictable Eddie Murphy movie you have seen in the past, but it's finally getting back to his comedic roots, while still providing some dynamic emotion that I haven't seen him do in a while. Great message! Jack McCall, played by Eddie Murphy, finds an unusual tree in his yard after an encounter with a spiritual guru. After discovering that with each word he speaks, a leaf drops off of the tree, Jack refuses to speak at all, as doing so will keep the tree, and him, alive. However, his work, marriage, and friendships are all affected by his choice. Can Jack figure out an alternative method of survival? Or will he simply have to live the rest of his life to the fullest?

• Tyler R

  
  There are literally a thousand words that I can use to describe this disaster. Some of the following include asinine, redundant, tedious, chauvinistic, presumptuous, despicable and just plain ridiculous.

• Scott G

  
  A VERY weak return for Eddie, nothing made me laugh and the sift moments were just cringy, and spoilt.

• Tyler C

  
  One Word: NO

• Joey S

  
  Taking away Eddie Murphy's voice was a terrible idea to begin with, and to top it off A Thousand Words is completely unfunny and formulaic. With a concept this poorly thought out the idea itself might as well be a joke, and it would be a much funnier joke than any of the ones… More
  Taking away Eddie Murphy's voice was a terrible idea to begin with, and to top it off A Thousand Words is completely unfunny and formulaic. With a concept this poorly thought out the idea itself might as well be a joke, and it would be a much funnier joke than any of the ones you'll find in the movie. I really wish Eddie Murphy would just choose a good movie to star in; Tower Heist was okay, but he really needs to take a step back and think before he signs himself on for another movie.

• Sol C

  
  The film was so so. They had a good idea for a film, but they didn't execute it correctly. They needed a rewrite. The tone was off too. Some scenes were stupid. However, there was a bunch of scenes that were funny. Clark Duke reminded me a lot of Jonah Hill.

• Panta O

  
  A story about Jack McCall (Eddie Murphy) - very capable literary agent who uses his gift of the gab to get various book deals! Sometimes he stretches the truth to get them. He's trying to get a book deal from a New Age self-help guru named Dr. Sinja (Cliff Curtis), but something… More
  A story about Jack McCall (Eddie Murphy) - very capable literary agent who uses his gift of the gab to get various book deals! Sometimes he stretches the truth to get them. He's trying to get a book deal from a New Age self-help guru named Dr. Sinja (Cliff Curtis), but something unusual happens when he does: a tree magically appears in his backyard, with a thousand leaves. Dr. Sinja goes to Jack's house and they both discover that for every word that Jack says, a leaf will fall off of the tree... they assume that when the tree runs out of leaves, the tree will die, along with Jack. Jack who used to talk a lot is now forced to pick and choose his words, and communicating with others becomes full of misunderstandings. These misunderstandings cost him a lot... but there is way to fix all the wrong things! This movie was originally shot in 2008, but was repeatedly delayed after being caught up in the separation of DreamWorks Pictures from Paramount Pictures and Viacom. Reshoots were done on the film early in 2011 and the release date was 9 March 2012. But after the release it has been universally panned by critics. It has a lukewarm story with a message which is not bad but no passion in it! And viewers could feel it! I still didn't mind watching it - mainly for the very secure acting, good camera work and exceptional photography. I know that on this site all reviews from the critics are negative, but I dare to give this movie a pass... just for the sake of the well done work of the whole team - even when there is no passion in it!

• Jack M

  
  This movie was awful. It was so bad that I started to feel uncomfortable watching it. I can not fathom how Eddie Murphy was once an icon of comedic genius. Those years are gone and they may never come again. Every time I see him in a movie, I keep wondering will he ever be funny… More
  This movie was awful. It was so bad that I started to feel uncomfortable watching it. I can not fathom how Eddie Murphy was once an icon of comedic genius. Those years are gone and they may never come again. Every time I see him in a movie, I keep wondering will he ever be funny again? No one laughed for the first thirty minutes because we were all shell-shocked by the thought of Eddie Murphy sucking this much. Please, Mr.Murphy, do another serious movie(Dreamgirls) or actually find a funny script(Judd Apatow).

• Noah N

  
  Though 'A Thousand Words' (2012) is equally funny as it is not, I don't believe it should have been held back for four years. I've seen much worse in 2008!

• Jim W

  
  Despite 0% good reviews the film really isn't awful, it's just not great. Murphy in Tower Heist was more like the Eddie we loved in the 80's. He's at least doing less kid movies now, I was even surprised that this was not a family film. But this is like a Shrek… More
  Despite 0% good reviews the film really isn't awful, it's just not great. Murphy in Tower Heist was more like the Eddie we loved in the 80's. He's at least doing less kid movies now, I was even surprised that this was not a family film. But this is like a Shrek movie with Donkey not being able to talk and what is the fun in that?

• Lee K

  
  Ok seeing the reviews of this film would make anyone run for their lives. Mind you i will say that it definatly wasn't worth the price of admission, however it wasn't as bad as some might say either. I have always liked Eddie Murphy, he doesnt make the best movies these days… More
  Ok seeing the reviews of this film would make anyone run for their lives. Mind you i will say that it definatly wasn't worth the price of admission, however it wasn't as bad as some might say either. I have always liked Eddie Murphy, he doesnt make the best movies these days however i find his presence alone on screen much like Jim Carrey is sometimes enough. Now let's not put all the blame on Eddie as he doesnt write the script nor does he direct, he just acts his way what he thinks will be a good film at the time. This time around Eddie plays Jack, a fast talking literary agent who after signing a new age self help guru named Dr. Sinja (Sinja's claim to fame is he can see through any lie or curse) goes home to find he now has a tree in his back yard that contains 1000 leaves. Jack is all to soon to find out that for every word he now speaks a leaf will fall to the ground, that being said we all know all to well what happens when a tree loses all it's leafs..... (Although the tree in my front yard often loses all it's leafs and never dies????) This unfortunate situation leaves Jack having to most carefully choose every word he says which pretty much leaves us, the audience, through the remainder of the film watching, sometimes laughing as Jack tries to deal his way through his career, faltering marriage and life in general without speaking. Now alot of critics from which reviews i have read have panned Murphy's performance in this as his gift of gab so to speak is his comedic claim to fame. I have to differ as quite a few scenes had me in breathless laughter, for eg; the scene where they are spraying pesticide on the tree at home which seems to get Jack high from the fumes as well all which occurs during a very important business meeting and signing. If you are a Murphy fan then do yourself a favor and wait for the intital video release of the dvd or you might be angered alone for paying the astronomical theatre fee alone. I say give it a chance it's not that bad!!!

• Jason C

  
  Of the one thousand ways they could have gone with this movie, director Brian Robbins, who's directed nothing but stinkers, took a script by Steve Koren, who's written a one or two good movies and a number of bad ones, and made it worse than it probably was in the first… More
  Of the one thousand ways they could have gone with this movie, director Brian Robbins, who's directed nothing but stinkers, took a script by Steve Koren, who's written a one or two good movies and a number of bad ones, and made it worse than it probably was in the first place. You can't blame an editor for something like this if you don't give him anything to work with. It's like giving a chef a pile of poop and asking him to turn it into lasagna. The cast was good, but not good enough to make this garbage tolerable. Eddie Murphy tried way to hard to make it funny, and only made it worse. I wanted to see Clark Duke in more movies, but now not so much. He was bad. I laughed 3 times. Yes, I was so bored I counted to pass the time. The idea was good. The end had a small moment that I liked a lot, but they ruined that as well. Don't bother.

Read all 19 featured audience ratings