A Lack Of Imagination

Much like George W. Bush before he was elected President the first time, Eddie Murphy has steadily sought to lower the bar for success.

After audiences have sat through such drek as "Doctor Doolittle," "Daddy Day Care" and the dreadful "Meet Dave" anything that isn't cringe inducingly awful can be viewed as something of a triumph.

"Imagine That" stars Murphy as a workaholic divorced dad with no idea how to connect to his seven year old daughter who spends all her time under a blanket talking to imaginary friends.
But things change when he discovers his daughter's imaginary friends are full of hot stock tips.

The only reason this film doesn't fail miserably is that it doesn't try.
It's genial enough, but no one puts any real effort into the movie at all.
Every now and then Murphy tries to fake some energy, but he's really just cashing a check here.
And Thomas Hayden Church deserves special scorn for his awful performance as Murphy's rival who dispenses stock advice with a little faux native american goobeldygook.
The end result is a film that's not as bad as "Norbit."
But it is sorely lacking in inspiration, and ambitions.

When I saw this in a theater full of young children I heard a lot of noises coming out of the crowd.
But the one thing I didn't hear a lot of was laughter.

"Imagine That:" C-