Meet Dave

Two Eddie Murphys are no better than one.

In the family comedy Meet Dave, he plays the noble leader of race of one and three-quarter inch high aliens on a mercy mission to save their dying planet.

The funnyman also plays the extra-terrestrials' spaceship, called 'Dave', which has been designed to look like a human being so the otherworldly visitors can pass amongst us unnoticed.

Skilled crew members take control of each part of the ship's anatomy, resulting in disastrous first efforts to walk in a straight line or put on a sweater in a seemly fashion.

Neither role plays to Murphy's diminished strengths, and Rob Greenberg and Bill Corbett's script almost drowns in its own sickly sentiment as the aliens realize mankind isn't so bad after all.

They would undoubtedly revise their opinion if they had to sit through Brian Robbins' film.

A meteorite falls to Earth and smashes into a goldfish bowl belonging to Josh (Austyn Lind Myers), who lives in New York City with his artist mother Gina (Elizabeth Banks).

Three months later, a tiny alien Captain (Murphy) and his crew crash-land in the shadow of The Statue Of Liberty in their human-sized craft, which they name Dave Ming Chang: supposedly the most common name on our planet.

They seek the meteorite, the key to saving their doomed home world.

By a stroke of luck, careless driver Gina knocks down Dave and invites him into her apartment, hoping to avoid a law suit.

The Captain and cultural officer No 3 (Gabrielle Union) are fascinated by Gina's concern for Dave.

They allow themselves to be distracted from the mission, enraging second in command No 2 (Ed Helms), whose sole concern is his planet's survival, even if that means destroying Earth and every living creature on it.

Meanwhile, a sci-fi obsessed cop (Scott Caan) stumbles upon the crash site on Ellis Island and begins to form a fantastical theory about alien visitors that isn't far removed from the truth.

Meet Dave begins with some fleetingly amusing sequences of the aliens attempting to mimic human behaviour or mistakenly taking characters at their word, like when Josh complains that Gina is overly protective and smothers him.

'She cuts off your air supply?' asks Dave, aghast at the barbarity of human parenting techniques.

However, it becomes increasingly implausible that the erratic behaviour of the alien spaceship wouldn't arouse suspicion.

Dave's participation in a hot dog eating contest leads to the inevitable toilet humour - 'Excuse me, my colon is impacted' - while the scriptwriters shamelessly embrace gay stereotypes to transform security officer No 4 (Pat Kilbane) into a swishing, Cher acolyte after he catches a brief glimpse of a Broadway musical.

Murphy is charmless in both parts while a tepid romantic subplot between the Captain and No 3 consigns the luminous Union to a thankless supporting role.

• Release Date: Friday 18 July 2008

• Certificate: PG

• Runtime: 90mins