The Pickup 2025 Parents Guide & Review

The Pickup is Rated R by Motion Picture Rating (MPA) for language throughout, some sexual references and violence.

The Pickup 2025 Movie Review

It’s been a long, frustrating wait for Eddie Murphy to headline a genuinely funny film again and The Pickup doesn’t change that grim trajectory.

Landing directly on Prime Video on August 6, this limp heist comedy feels less like a feature release and more like something destined for a dusty discount bin at your nearest warehouse store. Instead of crafting actual jokes, the movie expends all its energy on clumsy, uninspired action sequences none of which land with any impact, comedic or otherwise.

Murphy is joined by Pete Davidson and Keke Palmer two naturally charismatic performers who, unfortunately, are handed a script so barren of wit or invention that there’s simply nothing for them to do. Watching Murphy drift between looking mildly irritated and just plain bored becomes a shared experience with the viewer. It’s hard not to feel the same apathy wash over you.

Murphy plays Russell, a workaholic armored truck driver who’d rather keep hauling cash than retire and open a bed and breakfast a dream his wife Natalie (Eva Longoria) is pushing for. On their 25th anniversary, Russell promises to be home in time for dinner, but his obnoxious boss Clark (played by Andrew Dice Clay, recycling his usual vulgar shtick) saddles him with a long shift and a new partner: Travis, played by Davidson.

Travis is the kind of clueless new hire whose last shift ended in disaster he mistakenly pulled a gun on Zoe (Palmer), thinking she was robbing a bank. Spoiler: she wasn’t or at least, not then. But for reasons that go unexplained (or ignored), Travis still has a job. Even more absurdly, he somehow winds up spending a flirty weekend with Zoe, during which he spills every detail about his armored truck gig.

From the outset, The Pickup doesn’t pretend to be clever, so it’s immediately clear that Zoe is, in fact, a crook. She and her partners Banner (Jack Kesy) and Miguel (Ismael Cruz Córdova) plot to ambush Russell and Travis during a stretch of their route that winds through a suspiciously empty section of rural New Jersey, a place where neither radios nor cell phones apparently function. That any security company would knowingly send a cash-loaded truck into a communications dead zone for over an hour is absurd. But absurdity is the norm here.

The screenplay by Matt Mider and Kevin Burrows is riddled with logic holes so glaring they feel like taunts. Shot in 2024 but looking more like a hastily assembled pandemic project, the film has a skeleton crew of characters and empty backdrops that only add to its flatness. But what really sinks it is the utter absence of humor. Recommended: Freakier Friday (2025) Parents Guide & Review

Murphy’s Russell spends most of his time scolding Travis a hyperactive dolt still sulking over his failed dreams of joining the police force. Their banter, if you can call it that, is limp and predictable. Russell mutters the usual gripes about back pain and following procedure, while Travis barrels ahead like a human train wreck with no brakes. Once Zoe and her crew attack, the duo starts yelling a lot but all the shouting can’t disguise how low the stakes feel or how paper-thin the writing is.

You’d think an armored truck would put up more of a fight, but apparently, all it takes to disable it is a single arrow to the tire and a smoke bomb tossed through an unlocked slot. Twice, the film subjects us to slow-motion shots of people being hurled from the truck’s back doors, and director Tim Story tries to inject energy with flashy split screens, cheesy on-screen text, and a generic hip-hop soundtrack. But none of it makes this ride any more exciting or tolerable.

Eventually, Russell and Travis subdue Banner and Miguel, only to be taken hostage by Zoe, who reveals her big plan: use the armored truck to rob $60 million from an Atlantic City casino. Her motivation? Revenge. Years ago, the casino threw her father once a security guard under the bus. So now, she’s just righting a wrong. Supposedly.

The film takes Zoe’s side without much hesitation, and so does Travis, torn between stopping the heist and enabling it because, of course, he’s in love. Zoe manipulated him for information, but wouldn’t you know it, she actually caught feelings too. It’s a “twist” that’s not just groan-inducing, but utterly unearned. Her plan falls apart with even minimal scrutiny, and things only get messier when Natalie suddenly shows up to chew out her husband. Naturally, they all end up grabbing the loot together after a bizarre cameo from WWE’s Roman Reigns. Also Read: 5 Things to Watch the Week of (August 3-8)

Despite all the chaos, the comedy never kicks in. Travis’s attempts at humor mostly crass remarks and a recurring joke about his math skills (complete with fake computer sound effects) feel desperate and lazy. It’s like the cast is waiting around for someone to ad-lib a clever line that never arrives. Instead, we get silence, or worse, deadpan nothingness.

The action sequences are just as uninspired. A half-hearted car chase and an embarrassingly dull shootout lead us to a finale where the “less bad” criminals walk away triumphant, because… the real villains were even worse? That’s the moral math the film settles on, and it doesn’t sit right because nothing in this movie feels thought through.

Story’s direction doesn’t suggest the film should be taken seriously, but it’s so light on laughs that you can’t help but dwell on just how poorly it’s written. Everyone looks like they’d rather be anywhere else especially Murphy, who practically sleepwalks through the role. And that might be the most dispiriting part of all. When the star of the show can’t be bothered to try, why should we? Recommended: Twisted Metal Season 2 Episodes 1–3 Review

The Pickup 2025 Parents Guide

Violence & Action: Expect frequent and somewhat graphic violence—though not blood-drenched gore, it’s heavy on tense armed confrontations, slow‑mo tosses out the back of a truck, and an overall lethal subplot involving an armored vehicle heist. The car chase is especially low-energy yet still intense, and there’s a prolonged tense hijacking on a deserted rural road. Emotional stakes feel low, but peril is present.

Language: This film uses heavy, raw profanity throughout, including harsh or sexual terms. Andrew Dice Clay’s character, in particular, drops vulgar lines in his signature style. F‑words and aggressive insults are the norm, not the exception.

Sexual Content: There’s sexual innuendo and implied intimacy no explicit sex scenes, but Pete Davidson’s character shares a “flirty weekend” with Keke Palmer’s Zoë before things get dramatic. Some crass sexual remarks fly around, especially in dialogue intended to be edgy but often just landing flat.

Substance Use / Drugs: Substance use is minimal to non‑existent. The plot doesn’t revolve around drugs or alcohol substance-related content doesn’t stand out in what otherwise feels like a heist gone stale.

Emotional & Thematic Note

What disappointed me the most: the film tries to ride the momentum of revenge, greed, and betrayal but ends up feeling hollow. Keke Palmer’s character, Zoë, is framed as a vigilante figure avenging her father but with such thin motivation and blotchy scripting, the moral compass feels warped without depth. The tone is cynical rather than complex, leaving you irritated rather than engaged.

For whom is this suited? Only for adult viewers or mature teens (17+) who can take sharp profanity, mild sexual situations, and stylized violence without requiring much emotional payoff.