Movie Review

Not even Eddie Murphy can save film sequel Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F

Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.

Photo courtesy of Netflix

The unfortunate reality of modern-day Hollywood is that any and all once-popular properties are being considered for revivals, whether or not the last installment was any good. Sometimes the makers of the new film understand the assignment, as in the case of Top Gun: Maverick. But often they do not, which is how you end up with the highly unentertaining Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.

Forty years removed from the original film, and 30 years after the release of the reviled Beverly Hills Cop III, Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is still trying to solve crimes in Detroit and driving his partner-turned-boss Jeffrey Friedman (Paul Reiser) crazy with his destructive approach. When Foley’s estranged daughter Jane Saunders (Taylour Paige), now a criminal defense lawyer in Beverly Hills, runs afoul of the wrong people, he jets out west to try to help her out, whether she wants it or not.

In addition to reuniting with old pals like Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and now-chief John Taggart (John Ashton), Axel has run-ins with Detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), an old flame of Jane, as well as Captain Cade Grant (Kevin Bacon), who’s immediately telegraphed as a dirty cop. As usual, despite a lack of standing in the city or being asked to help by anyone around him, Axel inserts himself into all sorts of situations with varying results.

Directed by first-time feature director Mark Molloy and written by Will Beall, Tom Gormican, and Kevin Etten, the film is two hours full of strung-together moments that never come close to being funny, exciting, or suspenseful. A big part of this is that the filmmakers barely attempt to differentiate the 63-year-old Axel from him as a 23-year-old. It’s one thing to be a smart-ass bumping up against authority when you’re young, but another thing entirely when your peers have gone on to be the authorities.

But even that would be okay if the filmmakers had given him anything interesting to do. Instead, they subject the audience to multiple arguments between Axel and Jane that are barely believable, a central plot that makes little sense and wanders aimlessly, and action that vacillates between laughable and strangely graphic for a supposed comedy. They also go for some cheap laughs at the expense of out-of-touch rich Beverly Hills residents, but the bit never lands.

Films like this live on the nostalgia created by including elements from the original film(s), but they never truly commit to this element, either. Reiser, Reinhold, Ashton, and Bronson Pinchot all reprise their characters, but most of them are on screen for such brief stretches of time that they don’t make much of an impact. They bring back songs like “The Heat is On,” “Neutron Dance,” "Shakedown," and the iconic “Axel F,” but their placement in the film ofrten feels forced.

Murphy remains a talented performer, but even he seems to be listless in the film. There’s no real joy to be felt in him returning to the character; instead it feels like a money grab with only occasional flashes of the once-great comedian. Paige has had a few good roles in her career, most notably Zola in 2020, but she and Murphy couldn’t feel less like a father and daughter. Gordon-Levitt is mostly a non-entity in his role, and Bacon hams it up for the second time this week following MaXXXine.

Anytime there’s potential money to be made, you can be sure someone will try to revive a long-dead property, but in the case of Beverly Hills Cop, they should have left well-enough alone. Axel F comes nowhere near the heights of the franchise, instead serving as a drearily dull watch that can’t even get nostalgia right.

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Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is now streaming on Netflix.

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Vinyl Record News

Dallas record store chain Josey Records spins new location in Garland

Josey Records

Vinyl at Josey Records

Dallas music maker Josey Records has extended its reach east: The record store chain, whose empire includes one of the largest single independent record stores in the U.S., has opened a location in Garland, at 1005 Northwest Hwy., at the intersection of Centerville Road, where it's selling its trademark assortment of vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, turntables, music posters, new releases, and music accessories.

This is the sixth location and the third in the Dallas area, joining the original in Farmers Branch which owners Waric Cameron and Luke Sardello opened in November 2014. They've since opened locations in Plano, Tulsa, Kansas City, and Vidalia, Missouri.

The original location is a giant place with 16,000 square feet devoted to vinyl, 45s, CDs, turntables, and T-shirts. They do a good job showcasing new releases and collector vinyl — they made CultureMap's list of 5 best places in Dallas to buy vinyl records — and are known to host album release and listening parties such as a recent blockbuster celebrating Linkin Park.

They made headlines in June 2020 when they acquired the vast musical inventory of Bill’s Records following the death of owner Bill Wisener; Cameron and Sardello both worked at Bill’s, and knew the sprawling collection first-hand.

"It has taken us years to even start going through it, but in last two years, we've made some headway," Cameron says. "Bill's has its own audience, so we created a specific Instagram account, just for Bill's Records merchandise called @billsrecordsvault."

They chose Garland because they saw it as an area that was under-served.

"There are very few record stores in that area of northeast Dallas, Casa View, Garland, Rockwall, Mesquite," Cameron says. "We have customers who live over there, so it seemed like a good place for a store."

The storefront they're in was most recently The Music Store, which sold and rented musical instruments and accessories; but coincidentally, it's next to an address that was once RPM Records, a hip record store from the '90s.

The Garland store follows the same model as their others: selling new and used records and merchandise, and buying used goods, as well.

"One thing that's cool is that each location takes on its own identity," he says. "We buy used CDs, vinyl records, cassettes — we're a used resale business — and what we buy from our customers dictates what that store becomes. For example, our Plano store has a lot of classic rock. So we're looking forward to seeing what Garland gravitates to."

Garland does have one thing that the other locations do not.

"Right now, Garland has this incredible collection of jazz," Cameron says. "We bought a great collection of jazz records — someone called and wanted to sell it. We get that a lot, we buy major collections from all over the U.S., we even make house calls. So we saved it for the Garland store."