Review: Eddie Murphy brings the drama in predictable ‘Mr. Church’

Watching Bruce Beresford’s “Mr. Church,� in which Eddie Murphy does a rare dramatic turn as a longtime cook for a Caucasian woman, it’s hard not to be reminded of Beresford’s “Driving Miss Daisy� — and that’s not necessarily a good thing.

Inspired by “a true friendship,� the film begins in circa 1971 Los Angeles, where 10-year-old Charlotte “Charlie� Brooks (Natalie Coughlin, later Britt Robertson) awakens one morning to find Murphy’s Henry Joseph Church whipping up a jazz-accompanied culinary storm.

When she tells her mom, Marie (Natascha McElhone) that “there’s a black man in the kitchen cooking eggs,� she learns he was hired by Marie’s late former lover, but what Charlie doesn’t know is that her cancer-stricken mom has been given only six months to live.

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Turns out the intensely private Mr. Church’s initial tenure goes well beyond the half-year mark, as he serves as a nurturing father figure for Charlie well into adulthood.

What starts off with quirky promise soon falls into a maudlin, blandly predictable rut with a heavy reliance on voice-overs, but those aren’t the film’s biggest issues.

While it’s understandable why Beresford would be drawn to the thematic dynamics of Susan McMartin’s autobiographical script, there’s a significant cultural difference between the Deep South of “Driving Miss Daisy� and ‘70s and ‘80s L.A., yet “Mr. Church� feels as if it’s been painted with the same, uneasily patronizing brush.

Somehow Murphy manages to lift his dignified, all-knowing servant character off the page, giving a meticulously composed performance in a vehicle that can’t help but feel superficially repackaged.

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‘Mr. Church’

MPAA rating: PG-13, for thematic elements

Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Playing: In general release