Jack McCall (Eddie Murphy) is a fast talking literary agent who can talk anybody into doing anything including signing his latest book deal with spiritual guru, Dr. Sinja (Cliff Curtis). Jack smooth talks Dr. Sinja into a book deal by stretching the truth and giving him his word that his book will be a great success. Unfortunately this so called spiritual guide is only five pages! During this process, Jack cuts his hand on a mystical tree that somehow magically appears in his backyard. It seems that Jack’s life is now connected through this bodhi tree and the more he talks, the more leaves fall off, limiting his time to live. While Jack and Dr. Sinja work together to figure out how to undo this spell, Jack struggles to keep his job and save his marriage and family, all without speaking. It looks like Jack won’t be able to talk his way out of this bad situation.
Murphy is perfect for this role with his exaggerated comedic acts and facial expressions but at times is upstaged by his young assistant, Aaron Wiseberger (Clark Duke). Aaron is the loyal and hilarious assistant as he helps and saves Jack’s life throughout this ordeal. Things go hilariously awry whenever Duke shares the screen with Murphy and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him. There was a time when Murphy was one of the best funny men around but he’s definitely losing his comedic touch if another actor is stealing his scenes.
Despite all the laughs and ridiculous antics, there is a moral lesson behind this family-friendly comedy that almost reached a touching moment for me. Without communicating, Jack has to prove that he loves his wife Caroline (Kerry Washington) and their baby and help his mother Annie (Ruby Dee), who battles with Alzheimer’s, constantly mistaking Jack as his father. I took the message for what it was but A Thousand Words left me with mixed emotions as it was yet another gimmicky comedy for Murphy who seems of late to be settling for these cheesy roles.