4. Eddie Murphy Dreamgirls
Its safe to say Eddie Murphys career isnt the glittering prospect it once was. The man went from strength-to-strength in the 80s, releasing his live stand-up show Raw to rave reviews and huge box office numbers, as well as fronting a number of megahits such as the Beverley Hills Cop series. He was Paramounts most bankable star, and even kept this going in the 90s with films such as the Nutty Professor. Then Pluto Nash happened, and Murphys films have been stinking out multiplexes ever since. He was still an asset to animated films, lending his manic vocal pipes to Mulan and most famously Shrek, but the idea that Murphy in the flesh could make a film box office dynamite had been taken behind the woodshed and shot, Old Yeller-style. It was into this Murphy-malaise that Dreamgirls was released. While he wasnt ostensibly the star that honour fell to Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce Knowles, he was still given pride of place on the posters as befitting his status as a supporting player, and I thought that mightve been the kiss of death. Yet he was surprisingly awesome he threw himself into the film with gusto, enlivening his role as the self-destructive Jimmy Thunder Early with manic energy, desperate sadness, the occasional comedic moment and last but certainly not least, a brilliant singing voice. I defy you to watch his rendition of I Want You Baby and not find it awesome, and after years in the terrible comedy wilderness, Murphy picked up an Oscar nomination, something overshadowed by Jennifer Hudson's similarly mammoth and Oscar-winning performance. In fact, many people felt he only lost to Little Miss Sunshines Alan Arkin because he released the risible Norbit straight afterward.