Murphy is back playing multiple roles in a family comedy which would seem irresistible. Actually, Meet Dave is a germ of a good idea.

Unfortunately, the “germ” didn’t spread into the final script, which has our man Ed literally playing a spaceship that lands in New York City. Inside Dave, as the ship is quickly named, are a group of tiny space explorers--a kind of Starship Enterprise meets Fantastic Voyage--who land on the gargantuan Earth in order to take our resources for their own planet’s survival.

The ship’s commander (also played by Murphy) calls all the shots from his seat somewhere south of Dave’s throat, while other crew members work the various appendages and body functions. The one-joke premise has Dave working undercover as a human being, wandering the streets of the Big Apple, mangling the language while trying to imitate the people he meets along the way in order to go undetected.

A semi-love interest turns up when a young single mother, Gina (Elizabeth Banks), accidentally hits him with her car. This incident leads to a relationship with her and son Josh (Austyn Myers), who immediately bonds with Dave--for some strange reason. But through these encounters with humans, Dave’s crew discovers feelings and emotions they’ve never had--and all hell breaks loose.