Eddie Murphy’s Signature Laugh Is Noticeably Missing From ‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’ — What Gives?

Eddie Murphy is back on people’s screens with Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F – and also, in a rare burst of publicity, back on the press circuit, promoting his new film, which is not always a given when he has a new project out. This has provided an opportunity for plenty of fun retrospective stories (like his dinner with Marlon Brando, recounted to Seth Meyers), alongside genuine insight into what Murphy thinks of his own work and legacy. In his talk with the New York Times, for example, the interviewer complimented Murphy’s work in Bowfinger, suggesting it might be his best performance – and Murphy countered that to him, working in the Nutty Professor movies, playing different characters with the help of Rick Baker’s extraordinary make-up, was the more notable achievement, even vaguely dismissing the interview’s counter that he also plays two different characters in Bowfinger.

This is a relatively offhand comment expressing a preference, of course, and it’s not unusual for an artist to think about work differently depending on when or how you ask about it. Back in 2016, in a similarly retrospective interview promoting his little-seen indie drama Mr. Church, Murphy reacted to a similar shout-out by simply saying: “I love Bowfinger. That’s a funny one.” He also mentioned that he didn’t recall much improvising on the set of that movie, calling it “Steve Martin’s creation” that was “all mostly on the page” – which seems like a humble downplaying of the actual ad-libs director Frank Oz recalls happening on set. But maybe his memory of the film as more of a Steve Martin movie makes him feel less possessive of it than The Nutty Professor, where he’s so often playing opposite himself.

Murphy is obviously a mercurial guy, even in his more soft-spoken years, and seems to resist any feeling that he’s been confined by expectations. That’s why, for example, what some fans might think of the famous Axel Foley laugh is missing in action from the new legacy sequel, despite the movie bringing back multiple stars, jokes, and even soundtrack tunes from the earlier films. As Murphy has explained in multiple interviews, Axel’s distinctive laugh, sort of a low, staccato inhalation, is really his laugh – and he forced himself to quit laughing like that decades ago.

Murphy talks about not wanting to be pigeonholed and known for something so superficial – but moreover, he zeroes in on how anyone doing an impression of him would punctuate it with the laugh. He notes, with a comic actor’s well-honed eye for hackiness, that even today, “impressions” of Murphy tend to involve doing the Donkey voice for Shrek, followed by the laugh. “That’s not me,” he says, laughing – but not like that – through his mock outrage.

He makes a great point about the reductive nature of recognizing signature elements of actors’ performances – and at the same time, how stubbornly reactive do you have to be to literally change your laugh just to prove a point, years into an ultra-successful career? For that matter, if you’re concerned about being known as a simplified version of your image, why make Coming 2 America or Beverly Hills Cop 4 (or, back in the day, Another 48 Hours or Beverly Hills Cop III)? You can see in this decision a mix of bravado and defensiveness, which may be the key to why we see so little of the “old” Eddie Murphy these days. He can still deliver the charm (as he does in Axel F) and big laughs (as he did on his terrific Saturday Night Live episode) and stretch himself as a performer (as he did in the otherwise dire Mr. Church), but Murphy often appears to be keeping his audience at arm’s length – like when he showed up for the SNL 40 special to not do much of anything, or when he flirted with hosting the Oscars, then bailed. His much-mulled return to stand-up, too, seems to be a casualty of not wanting to play into an audience’s high expectations.

This isn’t a criticism of Murphy, who has been absolutely correct when, in the past, he’s pointed out that he has nothing he needs to prove to anyone. His place in film and comedy history is assured. (He should have been Oscar-nominated for something well before Dreamgirls, whether for Bowfinger, Nutty Professor, or something else entirely.) And anyway, hardly anyone stays exactly the same for decades at a time; that stasis is the last thing Murphy owes his audience. But there’s some old-fashioned comedian’s insecurity at work in the decision to replay old characters – Axel F is Murphy’s tenth sequel if you count the Shrek movies – while also appearing willing to disappear a genuine part of himself in an attempt to curtail bad impressions done by others. Or maybe it’s that last bit that really rankles – the idea that while Murphy’s charisma, energy, and delivery couldn’t truly be replicated, his laugh was easy enough to imitate. This could be a way of Murphy forcing us to accept no substitutes, despite the fact that he’s made plenty of those himself.

Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) is a writer living in Brooklyn. He’s a regular contributor to The A.V. Club, Polygon, and The Week, among others. He podcasts at www.sportsalcohol.com, too.