'The Pickup' Review: More Forgettable and Lifeless Streaming Fare That Wastes a Talented Cast
- Dan Bremner
- Aug 7
- 3 min read
By Dan Bremner - August 7, 2025
You know you're in for a treat when you didn't know of the existence of a heist-comedy starring Eddie Murphy until the day it was unceremoniously dumped on Streaming. While you can go to the cinema and watch a genuinely good comedy like The Naked Gun, you could instead (and I don't know why you would), watch whatever disposable trash is dumped on streaming.
While The Pickup tries to capture the ‘90s style comedies that Murphy excelled in, it unfortunately becomes easily disposable and instantly forgettable. Lacking in laughs and barely sustaining its lean runtime that wastes a solid premise.
What is the film 'The Pickup' about?
Tim Story’s The Pickup is a limp, half-baked buddy-heist romp that squanders a solid premise with a shoddy script and flat laughs. Keke Palmer’s spark and some decent action beats can’t save this forgettable streaming dud from feeling like a cheap knockoff of Eddie Murphy’s glory days, leaving you wishing for a rewind to the ‘90s.
After the excellent Dolemite is My Name back in 2019, I thought the Murphster was on a comeback trail, but with last year's instantly forgotten Beverly Hills Cop sequel, Coming 2 America, plus several more miserable outings that don't exist, it's safe to say the comeback came and died with one film.
The film kicks off with a fun setup: an armoured truck ambush with exploding dye packs, practical car crashes and stunt work that pops with chaotic energy. But it fizzles fast, losing steam by the 30-minute mark as the script stumbles into a repetitive, sketch-like slog.
What's most frustrating is how much potential there was here for something fun. Eddie Murphy, Pete Davidson and Keke Palmer are all fantastic when given the right material. And this script is a let down. Eddie Murphy, a comedy legend, feels criminally underused, his restrained performance lacking the wild spark of his Beverly Hills Cop days. A cringe-inducing Neutron Dance needle-drop, complete with a glare at Pete Davidson for putting it on lets you know what you're in for, and it's not good. There are few moments where his loud wisecracking gets let loose, but it's fleeting and leaves merely a shadow of his former brilliance.
Keke Palmer’s Zoe shines as a cunning criminal mastermind, her sly charisma and no-nonsense attitude stealing every scene. She’s the lone bright spot, carrying the film with a magnetic edge that demands a better vehicle. Pete Davidson’s Travis is a grating disaster, his annoying shtick and lack of chemistry with Murphy dragging the film into a ditch. The ensemble, including undercooked henchmen, feels like a missed opportunity, with no chemistry to lift the clashing personalities.
The tone is a jarring mess, lurching from goofy gags to forced drama, like Zoe’s tacked-on family sob story that clashes with the comedy. The humour, meant to evoke ‘90s buddy-cop vibes, lands flat, with dated punchlines and repetitive quips that fizzle out. Then there's recurring gags like a small monkey encased in glass that's meant to be funny for some reason (A mid-credits scene even gives the item a shrug-worthy payoff).
Is 'The Pickup' Worth Watching?
No. The Pickup is a disposable misfire. It's a nostalgic nod to ‘90s comedies buried under a weak script, uneven tone, flat visuals and wasted cast. Palmer’s charm and a few solid action beats can’t salvage this tosh. Unfortunately The Pickup is a film you can have in the background while you doom scroll through social media as your life inches 90-minutes closer to the grave. If anything, it’ll leave you yearning for Murphy’s better days.
'The Pickup' is streaming now on Prime Video
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