Meet Dave

TV Guide Ken Fox

Aside from some unnecessarily crude stereotypes, Eddie Murphy's least-painful comedy in years has a certain peculiar charm.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

this unfairly maligned sci-fi comedy testifies that Eddie Murphy still has the gift of surprise.

Variety Joe Leydon

Aimed squarely at the same family audiences that flocked to Murphy's "Doctor Dolittle" comedies, this is a lightly amusing and surprisingly sweet Fox release.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Meet Dave isn't great, but it's good enough. And it proves once again that Murphy can do anything - even a PG comedy in which he isn't a donkey.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole

Actually, as Eddie Murphy PG comedies go, Meet Dave isn't bad. In fact, it's kind of sweet, innocent almost – kid-friendly in the best sense.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

It's a good-natured if flimsy comedy that, at the very least, suggests that Murphy hasn't completely lost whatever made him funny in the first place.

LA Weekly Tim Grierson

Meet Dave feels a little too cuddly and familiar to be more than a programmatic summer kids' movie -- better than average, but not worth phoning home about.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

This is made-for-TV material dressed up by Eddie Murphy's participation into a theatrical release.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Eddie Murphy is one of the most alarmingly gifted comic actors America has ever produced but he persists in making comedies that are beneath him.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Isn't likely to win Murphy another Oscar nomination, but it allows him to do what he does best - loads of physical comedy.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

The "Star Trek" gibes feel especially lazy, since the movie ought to be "Men in Black" kicky, not sketch-comedy dusty.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

More palatable than "Norbit" but equally uninspired, Murphy's benign, pedestrian Meet Dave mostly gives us "Mr. Ed," with a bit of Crazy Eddie mixed in.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Though mildly amusing, Murphy's two characters in Meet Dave -- a wee captain and a humanoid spaceship -- neither tax nor stretch him.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The heartbreaking thing about Meet Dave...is its occasional funniness amid a sea of pablum. If it were completely rank, it'd be less frustrating.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

Eddie Murphy's amusingly out of this world in this otherwise tired vehicle.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

There's no real wit or cleverness to the script.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Proven comic talents like Judah Friedlander and Ed Helms make up much of Murphy's crew, but apart from speaking in contraction-free spaceman-ese, the film doesn't give them anything funny to do.

Los Angeles Times Sam Adams

Pays lip service to the joys of exploring new worlds, but it never steps off the tour bus.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Dumbfoundingly erratic, for the most part, but smart and funny from time to time.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

The kind of bland, generic, high-concept midsummer comedy that drives a critic to the thesaurus in search of new ways to say "vapid."

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

The insipid gags fail to exploit Murphy's gift for physical humor, Elizabeth Banks and Gabrielle Union are merely decorative, and Ed Helms (The Office), playing a character called #2, looks appropriately constipated.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Murphy has fallen back into the comfortable rut of sloppy family comedies that are low on laughs and high on toilet jokes.

USA Today Claudia Puig

If only the movie had heeded its own advice and tried to be different from the standard formula.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

On just about every occasion in Meet Dave, Murphy appears to be on the verge of cracking himself up. This is good news. At least someone found him funny.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Murphy, teaming again with his "Norbit" director Brian Robbins, is assuming we'll all line up for lazyass toilet jokes and pay for the privilege. Prove him wrong, people, please.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

After his disastrous outing in 200X with "The Adventures of Pluto Nash," there was no direction for Murphy to head but up in terms of another space alien movie. Indeed, Meet Dave is a step up, but that's only in relation to Pluto Nash.