Film Review – The Pickup

August 8th, 2025 | POSTED BY Allen Almachar

The most puzzling – and disappointing – aspect about The Pickup (2025) is that it is filled with talented performers put into positions where they are unable to showcase it. Pete Davidson is a successful comedian, who’s been in interesting films like Big Time Adolescence (2019) and Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022). Keke Palmer is a charismatic singer/actor who already scored a hit earlier this year with the comedy One of Them Days (2025). And what else is there to say about Eddie Murphy? Not only is he one of the greatest standup comics of all time, he was at one point the biggest movie star in the world. You have three costars all of whom bring a lot to the table, and yet their team up results in a project that barely registers a reaction. To say this is an “Airplane Movie” would be doing Airplane Movies a disservice.

That isn’t even to say that this is terrible or offensive. There are plenty of other movies out there that are worse. The problem is that given the caliber of talent on its roster, this should have been much better. Director Tim Story (with cowriters Kevin Burrows and Matt Midler) construct a narrative that is preposterous, silly, and forgettable. There are so many other films involving heists, kidnappings, chases, robberies, odd couples, romances amid high stress situations, etc. This does very little to set itself apart. Its biggest sin is in its blandness. It operates by the numbers, chugging along fulfilling the requirements of its genre without adding much flavor. 

Murphy and Davidson play Russell and Travis, two guards for an armored truck delivery service. Travis is young and a bit of a slob. A running joke describes how he hasn’t showered for days. He dreams of becoming a police officer but has been unable to pass the entrance exam (although he passed the driving test with flying colors). For Russell, he has put in years of dedication into his work. But on this particular day, all he wants is to end his shift on time so he can celebrate his 25^th anniversary with his wife Natalie (Eva Longoria, in a throwaway role). What was supposed to be a mundane day of picking up and delivering cash turns into a high stakes situation when a trio of criminals – led by mastermind Zoe (Palmer) – highjack the truck. Can Russell and Travis escape their predicament? Will Travis ever get his act together and become a cop? Will Russell make it home in time before his wife blows a gasket and comes looking for him? Will Zoe’s plan work given that she must deal with this oddball duo? Oh, the drama!

Right off the bat, we recognize that none of the three leads share chemistry. Murphy, Davidson, and Palmer are funny, but they are not funny when teamed up in this scenario. The writing and direction come up with absurd contrivances to get them together. While staking out the truck route, Zoe hatches a plan to get Travis into bed and letting him blabbermouth his way into giving her all the information she needs. For Russell and Travis, this is the first time they have been paired together on the job, and their contrasts does very little to garner laughs. It’s strange: decades ago, it would’ve been Murphy playing the loose cannon. Fast forward to the present and we see him as the straight man – a no-nonsense person who’s uptight and stiff. There is one solitary scene where Murphy is allowed to let loose and be his old self, going on an extended bit about pancakes and syrup. But that’s it – the rest of the time he operates simply on neutral.

Where The Pickup excels is in the action beats. Where most action films rely too heavily on computer generated imagery, here we see some refreshing practical stunt work. The main highlight involves the initial high jacking scene, where Zoe and her goons (Ismael Cruz Cordova, Jack Kesy) attempt to pull the truck over along the freeway. This extended stretch of road is a “dead zone” where cell and radio reception are non-existent, so Russell and Travis cannot call for back up. The cinematography (Larry Blandford) places the camera so we can clearly see the progression of the scene. There is good variety to the chase, featuring characters jumping from one vehicle to the next, characters careening off the street and back again, as well as our protagonists doing all they can to prevent getting taken over by the hijackers. At one point, Russell uses a dye pack as a clever way to blind their pursuers. This is easily the most exciting episode of the entire movie. The fact that it happens so early into the runtime is a detriment to everything that follows. The film never hits this level again.

The narrative is both overly complicated and simplistic. The writing bends over backwards to make Zoe a criminal with a heart of gold. Let’s ignore that she uses some extreme measures to extract the kind of info from Travis that he’s probably dim enough to give to her anyway (I mean, if she must work, might as well have some fun doing so!). Besides that, her character is shaped for us to root for despite her holding Russell and Travis at gunpoint. We get some background over her motivations for hijacking the truck and why she needs their help. There is an emotional factor that treats her more as a Robin Hood character as opposed to a straight up villain. But this development exists on a surface level and doesn’t do a good enough job rounding out her character. Just like Russell and Travis, Zoe is meant to have different facets to her personality, but on screen she is one dimensional.

There isn’t much going on with The Pickup. Outside of a few impressive set pieces, this doesn’t offer much more than the mildest form of entertainment. It’s not really that funny, or thrilling, or interesting. It follows a well-worn blueprint but does so with a lackluster approach. It isn’t even that awful, because sometimes awful movies are at the very least memorable. This just simply…exists.

Big Time Adolescence, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Eddie Murphy, Eva Longoria, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Jack Kesy, Keke Palmer, Kevin Burrows, Larry Blanford, Matt Midler, One of Them Days, Pete Davidson, The Pickup, Tim Story