Movie Review: The Pickup

We’ve all heard the saying, “two is plenty, three’s a crowd,” at some point in our lives. While it’s self-explanatory, the saying means that two people can enjoy each other’s company comfortably, but adding a third person can create awkwardness or tension.

Watching Tim Story’s The Pickup, that old proverb kept running through my head. The film stars Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson as two armored truck drivers whose truck is the target of a devious criminal (Keke Palmer). Throughout the film, I couldn’t help but wonder how much better the movie would have been if Davidson were not in the film and we only had Murphy and Palmer.

Eddie Murphy is a comedic legend, and while his latest stretch of films has had their ups and downs, he always brings it. He still has wicked timing, can roast anybody, and now he brings an “I’m too old for this shit” old man attitude that works with his overall vibe. He might not have the energy he once did as Axl Foley or Buddy Love, but he’s still a joy to watch whenever on screen.

Keke Palmer is an actor I adore. She is immensely talented, funny as hell, and has endless charisma. Every time she’s in a movie, she brings energy and freshness that is hard to match. She’s already given one of my favorite performances of the year in One of Them Days, and she once again brings a radiance and skill that few movie stars today have.

And then there is Pete Davidson. I like Pete Davidson. I thought he was a solid cast member on Saturday Night Live, and I’ve enjoyed his stand-up and his appearances on various celebrity roasts and have even liked some of his movie performances.

While I find Davidson funny most of the time, he does not have the screen presence or wit that Murphy and Palmer have, and it is evident in The Pickup. Davidson is a JV player starting on a varsity team; he simply cannot keep up. It doesn’t help that his character is an idiot and is written with no depth. His character wants to be a cop and is good at math, and that’s all there is to him, and they barely mention either of those throughout the movie. Davidson is simply there for quick stoner humor and yelling interjections and is ultimately out of his league.

Murphy and Palmer, on the other hand, are perfect. Murphy, portraying a man on the verge of retirement whose only goal is to get to his anniversary dinner with his wife, is excellent. He’s funny and shows off some impressive physicality for a man in his mid-60s. It was fun seeing Palmer play a villain, something I haven’t seen her do before, and there are layers to her character that make her more than just the money-stealing thief. I would have loved to see the two of them go back and forth for 90 minutes.

It’s a little frustrating that that could have been possible, too. The Pickup could have taken out Davidson’s character and had Palmer’s character go undercover within the armored truck company and pull off the elaborate heist from within. This would have led to more screentime for Murphy and Palmer, which would have made for a more fun, funnier, and arguably better movie.

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