We've been quite harsh on Eddie Murphy this year. In fact, we put together a list of ideas to help him get his career back on track as we watched him bang out crappy family comedy after crappy family comedy. And with his latest choice, there are finally some promising signs.

Murphy is, according to The Hollywood Reporter, producing and potentially starring in a film called The Misadventures Of Fluffy.

Wait! Don't go away! It's not quite as it sounds!

The Misadventures Of Fluffy is a road trip movie, set through New York and with talking animals.

Seriously, now. Please don't go away.

Because here's the difference. The script is apparently going more for the style of the outstanding Trading Places, and it's very definitely being aimed at an older audience than Murphy's recent films. Perhaps buoyed by the success of The Hangover, this is an R-rated comedy, rather than anything particularly family friendly. So while you may at first have thought of the words ‘Dr Doolittle' and ‘Yikes', there might just be more to this than originally meets the eye.

That said, Murphy hasn't signed up to star in it. Right now, he's just down as producer, but if he does do a movie that basically rips the piss out of all the family-friendly movies that cover this sort of ground, then we reckon he should go for it.

We'll, in theory, next be seeing Murphy, less promisingly, in A Thousand Words,  a high concept comedy about a man who has just 1,000 words to say before he dies. Interestingly, the film is actually completed, but it's been marked down for release in - ready? - 2011 in some parts of the world. There's no UK or US release date in sight.

It was originally set for release by the end of this year, and we're guessing that the box office performance of Meet Dave and Imagine That has firmly taken its toll there.

The film, incidentally, has been directed by, er, Norbit helmer Brian Robbins. Don't rule out the words ‘straight to DVD' here...

The Hollywood Reporter