Eddie Murphy is true Hollywood royalty. An actor with dozens of movies under his belt over the years, classic comedy timing and, as it just so happens, a brand new flick for 2025 that's now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
The Pickup is Amazon MGM Studio's latest movie for 2025, having released last week, and it has promptly shot to the top of the Amazon Prime chart, hitting the no.1 spot and overtaking the War of the Worlds remake starring Ice Cube.
As one of the best streaming services, Amazon has strong financial clout to commission movies such as The Pickup – which is an Amazon MGM Studios production. It's the only movie Murphy has starred in thus far in 2025, although critics and fans have some pretty strong opinions about it already.
The Pickup trailer
Is The Pickup a good movie?
The Pickup continues Murphy's trend of not-so-acclaimed movies hitting our screens. Go to Rotten Tomatoes and the aggregator site tells us that critics' ratings are a mere 28% positive. Audience figures are a bit higher, but 40% is nothing to write home about.
A look over Murphy's more recent movies – from Candy Cane Lane to You People or Coming To America 2 – and there's a clear 'not great' concensus, with scores typically in the mid-30% ranges. So it seems The Pickup continues that years-long trend.
"I'm sure the script is AI-based," states one user review. "There is no way that this script wasn't written by ChatGPT," asserts another. Even critics don't stray too far from that sentiment, with one saying: "The Pickup can never escape the sense that it’s algorithmic filler."
What's The Pickup about?
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, of course, and many others found it a funny flick. "Eddie and Pete are hilarious together," says one of Murphy's co-star, Pete Davidson.
The pair play cash handlers, whose armoured truck is ambushed. The criminal boss mastermind, played by Keke Palmer, then plans on using the two to further her cash grab – by using them to rob a casino.
It's a classic unlikely duo in unexpected scenarios, with chaotic scenes, zany comedy, and a predictable R-rating (it's a BBFC 15 in the UK). So don't expect anything kid-friendly, nor brain-taxing, frankly.
