Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson flex comedy muscles in 'The Pickup'

Cast members Eddie Murphy, Pete Davidson and Keke Palmer attend the world premiere for the film "The Pickup" in Los Angeles, California, US, Jul 27, 2025. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Actor-comedians Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson team up for "The Pickup", a heist movie that sees them sparring as a pair of incompatible armoured truck drivers.

Starring opposite Murphy, 64, was "a bucket list thing" for Davidson, 31, who had admired Murphy's work since he was seven.

Unlike their characters, the two had much in common.

"Pete comes from SNL. He's a standup comic. We're both from the East Coast," said Murphy. "I love to get into a scene with somebody else that's funny, improvise with them and start playing, I love it."

On a routine round of cash pickups, Murphy's Russell and Davidson's Travis get targeted by criminals. Things get personal when Travis discovers that the thieves are led by his one-night-stand from the night before, played by Keke Palmer, and the life of Russell's hot-headed wife, played by Eva Longoria, comes under threat. The duo must pull together to save the day.

The script, by Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider, served as their blueprint and director Tim Story encouraged them to go off it, the two said.

"We would do one as written and then Tim and everyone was like, 'Just go nuts' and we would end up just trying to one-up each other, we were just trying to make each other laugh," said Davidson.

"They were improvising constantly and it was really sweet to see. It's so cool because you see two different generations," added Palmer.

The generational differences also seeped into the scenes, with the fighting taking its toll on Russell's body.

"Usually in these types of movies or my early movies like the 'Beverly Hills Cop' and '48 Hrs.', I was the young maverick and now I'm the older guy," said Murphy.

Murphy has been making movies for 43 years and said new challenges were few and far between.

"I've played different ethnicities and different genders. I've been inanimate, I've played spaceships. I've played every type of role you could possibly imagine," he said, but added he was working on "something fresh and new".

"We're doing George Clinton, Parliament Funkadelic, we're doing his life. And there's no one like George. So I'll be in uncharted waters."

"The Pickup" starts streaming on Prime Video on Aug 6.