So they’ve chosen Eddie Murphy to host the Oscars? Um, is the show doing a 1980s flashback theme?

I mean, I loved Eddie in “Trading Places” and “Beverly Hills Cop” and “48 Hours.”

But do you really want the guy who starred in “Meet Dave” to be the centerpiece of a show about the highest-quality, most exquisite films of the year?

Poor Eddie. Over the past years, since his 1980s heyday, his movies (with the exception of “Dreamgirls” and the “Shreks”) have slid down the slope of inanity. “Imagine That”? “Norbit”? “Daddy Day Care”? Really?

As for “Dreamgirls,” remember how Murphy was nominated for best supporting actor for his quite-fine performance in that in 2007? Everyone thought he was destined to win ... until they announced that the award was going to Alan Arkin for “Little Miss Sunshine” — and Murphy stalked out of the ceremony right afterward.

It’s amusing that he’s now back hosting the gig. Turns out, one of this year’s Oscars producer is Brett Ratner. Ratner just happens to have directed Murphy in the upcoming action-comedy “Tower Heist.” What a coincidence! Think there’ll be a “Tower Heist” reference or two thrown into the ceremony?

On the upside, Ratner says he wants to increase the comedy in the show. And, really, Murphy HAS to be better than Anne Hathaway and James Franco, who bombed as hosts earlier this year.

Murphy can be damned funny. It’s his own stardom that’s gotten in the way. He was so wonderful — charismatic, hip, edgy yet warm — back when he began. Then fame happened. It seemed to turn him into a Hollywood-hardened slickster. God knows, he’s not alone in having spectacular self-seriousness sent in, but Murphy had been so ingratiating that his descent into  Stallone-attitude-ville was particularly depressing.

Here’s what I’m hoping: I’m hoping the Feb. 26 Oscar ceremony marks the beginning of the Eddie Murphy renaissance. He’ll rise like a phoenix — like Robert Downey Jr. without the drug record.

What do you think of Eddie Murphy hosting the Oscars?