Halfway through The Pickup, you start to wonder when the fun kicks in. The film is an action comedy. A genre that best exemplifies the term ‘popcorn entertainment’, which engages the audience with humour. However, instead of comedy, The Pickup peppers the story with an ample amount of clichés. The film starts with a scene between Keke Palmer and Pete Davidson, two well-known comedians. Unfortunately, even their experience with the genre feels useless once you realise that they are working against stale writing.
Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson are both from the school of Saturday Night Live, the popular sketch comedy show. However, that seems to be the only common factor between the two actors. There is a jarring tonal shift when the scene switches between the characters played by Murphy and Davidson. Murphy’s character boxes him into a stoic demeanour. This choice makes sure that the veteran actor’s comedic talents remain unexplored in a film that already has a scarcity of laughs. Meanwhile, Davidson continues to bring sketch comedy sensibilities to a film that does not support that brand of humour. Davidson’s character, Travis, is initially labelled as a bumbling idiot; the type of person who is typically unpredictable. But this unpredictability only serves the plot, and not the humour. With even the lead characters written poorly, there is not much hope for the rest of the film.
The Pickup doubles down on its reliance on clichés in how it handles its women characters. Keke Palmer’s Zoe evolves from being the antagonist to an anti-hero. But the character’s woes do not stop there. Zoe’s motive for planning a heist is an emotional one, which is never addressed again, because it isn’t convenient for the plot. Writing for Eva Longoria’s character also falls into a hole of clichés. She plays the dutiful wife. Sorry, dutiful “Latina” wife of Eddie Murphy’s Russell. The film never fails to reinforce the fact that she is a Latina, which doesn’t seem to serve any purpose to the story or her character arc. Representing an ethnic group’s stereotypes is fine as long as it is done in a respectful manner, where we are not laughing at a character because of said stereotypes. The Pickup sadly fails in this regard.
It feels like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle. The film makes you nostalgic for early 2010 comedies, which could have been amplified with better writing. You try to ignore the obvious clichés, hoping you will be entertained. But the sad realisation that the clichés might be the only good thing about the film quickly sets in.