A Thousand Words

I think I actually smiled when the trailer for A Thousand Words ended.  I didn't smile because it was over - I know, I've been exceptionally critical lately.  Today, someone actually called me a curmudgeon, which made me cry and then they called me a crybaby...  I smiled at the trailer because the concept for the film seemed, dare I say it?  Fresh.   I think the fact that this trailer was only 1:31 enabled it to be fresh, as this is usually the point where a trailer starts to give away too much. 

A Thousand Words is the story of a slick, deceitful book publisher (Eddie Murphy) who seems to lie his way through even the most mundane situations - like waiting in line for coffee at the local Sixbucks.. I mean Starbucks.  When he goes too far and lies to some yoga, spiritual guru type about getting a book published, everything changes.  The spiritual guru type puts a sort of curse on Eddie - while this is not in the yogi spirit, it will certainly highlight a point.  That point?

According to the guru yogi guy, "our words have a profound effect on the universe."  And clearly Eddie's have had a profoundly negative effect.

So, the guru yogi guy somehow summons a tree on Eddie property.  He tells Eddie that he and the tree are connected.  Whenever Eddie speaks, leaves fall off the tree.  And the question is asked, "what happens when a tree loses all of it's leaves?" 

Now Eddie has about 1000 words left before apparent death so he must choose his words wisely.

It was really fun to watch Eddie Murphy in this trailer.  That manic, quick tongued Eddie in the first part of the trailer, followed by some great slapstick, physical comedy, was reminiscent of Eddie of old.

There is no doubt that Eddie is a talent.  To be honest, though, I think the last movie I saw him in was Bowfinger.  I didn't see any of the Shrek movies... not because of Eddie, though.  I think I missed them because, even though I like Mike Myers, rehashing of the Scottish accent (the dad in So I Married an Axe Murderer, Fat Bastard in the Austen Powers movies and Shrek) got kind of tired for me.  Mike is still a super talent, don't get me wrong.  Anyhow, I absolutely loved Bowfinger.

Even though the outcome of A Thousand Words seems pretty obvious, the perfect-length trailer, and watching some good old Eddie Murphy comedy, confirmed that I will likely see this one soon.