“Norbit” (2007), starring Eddie Murphy and Thandie Newton is rated PG-13 and is now out on DVD. But I don’t particularly recommend “Norbit.” The movie’s tag-line, “Have you ever mad a really big mistake?,” applies to “Norbit” very well-the whole movie feels like a mistake. I would rate it a **1/2 stars out of ***** stars.
Norbit,” starring Eddie Murphy is rude, crude and the humor is mostly very juvenile. But make no mistake, “Norbit” is not a family friendly movie and is not appropriate for children under 16. Between brief male rear nudity, quite a bit of sexuality and sexual innuendo this is not family fare. Also “Norbit” features constant, although relatively mild, foul language. Literally, I think almost every fifth word was a curse word. Frankly, I’m amazed that “Norbit” only had a PG-13 rating and not an R rating based on the frequency of the cursing.
If you have the sense of humor of a ten year old boy (fortunately, I do) than you will find a few laugh out loud funny moments in “Norbit.” But, most of the humor is a failed attempt to be clever or funny. There are as many groans and gross out moments as there are laughs in “Norbit.” The best thing about “Norbit” is, of course, Eddie Murphy. Eddie Murphy’s talent for being a chameleon and almost unrecognizable as himself stand out in “Norbit.” Literally, you forget he’s playing several roles-each character he plays seems to come to life in itself.
Eddie Murphy plays several roles in “Norbit”. First of all he plays the title role of nerdy, beaten down, good hearted Norbit. Then he plays Rasputia, Norbit’s morbidly obese, truly evil wife. Eddie Murphy is even more unrecognizable and quite hilarious elderly Chinese man, Mr. Wong. As Mr. Wong, Eddie Murphy subtly (or at least subtly for Eddie Murphy) steals the show from the other characters, including the ones he himself plays.
If you think you’ve seen parts of “Norbit” before, you have. Imagine Martin Lawrence in “Big Mamma’s House,” if “Big Mamma” were evil. Cross this with equal parts of Eddie Murphy in “The Nutty Professor” and “Meet the Klumps” and you have “Norbit.” If you enjoy politically incorrect fat jokes and sight gags related to obesity, “Norbit” is for you. For those of us that don’t enjoy this sort of thing, again, there are just mostly groans and not as many laughs.
Norbit, Played by Eddie Murphy is a bit of a sad sack of a man. Orphaned as a baby and raised in an orphanage by Mr. Wong, Norbit is all alone in the world. He had a best friend, Kate, whom he had a childhood crush on. When Kate was adopted out of the orphanage, Norbit was all alone again-until Rasputia comes along. Rasputia, a loud, obnoxious, extremely obese teenage girl, decides to take up for Norbit and make him her own. Norbit goes along with Rasputia, and ends up married to her and works as a lackey for her hoodlum brothers. Rasputia is an evil woman who treats poor Norbit like dirt and even cheats on him. When Kate comes back into Norbit’s life, all heck breaks loose as Rasputia tries to keep them apart. Will Norbit ever stand up for himself and leave evil Rasputia and finally tell Kate he loves her before she marries another man? Well it’s movie land, so a happy ending is guaranteed as usual.
Thandie Newton, as Kate, is beautiful as always, but it is very clear that she is not enjoying performing in “Norbit.” Her annoyance and discomfort in the film are a bit distracting. One might think that she’s just a bad actress, but her work in other movies is actually good. She just hates being in this movie and isn’t a good enough actress to hide it.
While I did have a few laughs, and had to admire the amazing makeup that transformed Eddie Murphy-I didn’t particularly enjoy this movie. I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone unless they are either a die hard Eddie Murphy fan or just want to kill a rainy afternoon. Overall it’s disappointing and just comes off as rude and crude instead of funny. I appreciate rude humor, but this movie just comes across as obnoxious and not as funny as it could have been.
The Internet Movie Database’s Entry on “Norbit:”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477051/
