The Adventures Of Pluto Nash review

Eddie Murphy's latest film is not in fact his latest film at all. Pluto Nash, a pretty lame comedy which really should have been stopped as soon as they saw the first day's rushes, limps onto our screens over two years after production began, with tales of a spiralling budget (an alleged $100m) and a catastrophic crash landing in American cinemas where it has so far barely taken over $3m and is likely to become the biggest flop in Murphy's twenty year career.

While not quite the year's worst comedy (anyone who has seen The Sweetest Thing will agree that it has to be favourite right now), Pluto Nash has a very empty feel to it, a script which may have been written by a futuristic computer whose laughter chip has been stolen, and a bizarre difference between what the makers may have thought would have been funny and the silent, puzzled manner in which most audiences are likely to react.

For example, the premise is of interest. Apparently a precious metal has been found on the moon making it a thriving colony, full of entertainment complexes for the mineral-happy and providing ample employment for the planet's crooners. This is where Nash comes in as the opening sequence sees him inherit a squalid club owned by his singer friend Tony Francis (Jay Mohr). Fast forward to seven years later and Pluto's is the hottest club in town until a ruthless underworld tycoon threatens to blow him out of the stratosphere unless he sells up.

OK, 2001: A Space Odyssey it isn't, but at least you would think there might be some nice gags on futuristic gadgets, or that the special effects of life on the moon might be impressive. This is where the sheer lack of real creativity becomes all too apparent. The ongoing gag about gadgets is all-encompassed by Pluto's sidekick Bruno (Randy Quaid), a robotic bodyguard and possibly the most annoying sci-fi movie character since Jar Jar Binks. Quaid's performance is the film's lowlight %u2013 so desperate to be funny and failing on every single level, it is painfully embarrassing to think about even after the film has ended.

Likewise, even though it is clear that a lot of money has been spent, the futuristic landscapes which are meant to represent a Vegas-on-the-moon effect look pretty much like Vegas today. It's a monumentally unimpressive vision of space life in 80 years' time and there's no doubt that a low-budget filmmaker could have shot a more convincing future using the real Vegas of today.

Murphy's performance is also odd. He is strangely quiet throughout, as if he is beginning to realise the mess he has gotten himself into. He is assisted by a too-eager Rosario Dawson (who clearly thinks this is going to be the greatest film ever. Period.), a confused-looking Pam Grier, and a somewhat hammy John Cleese. Pluto Nash will become known as one of Hollywood's strangest offerings of the decade (an out-and-out comedy without laughs), but even that isn't enough to warrant spending the ticket price on it.