Eric D. Snider
Norbit
Movie Review
"Norbit"
Review by Eric D. Snider
Grade: D-
Rating: PG-13
Released: Friday, February 9, 2007
Directed by:
Cast:
It's really sad about Eddie Murphy. Here he gets nominated for an Oscar (and deservedly so, one could argue) for "Dreamgirls" -- and then people will see "Norbit" and not vote for him purely out of spite. Surely the man responsible for this appalling disaster doesn't deserve an Academy Award for ANYTHING, they'll reason.
They may have a point. "Norbit" reminds us that "Dreamgirls" was a fluke for Murphy -- not in terms of his performance, which is typically laudable, but in terms of his choice of material, which (apart from the mostly harmless family flicks) has been questionable for most of his career. "I Spy"? "The Adventures of Pluto Nash"? "Showtime"? "Life"? "Holy Man"? "Vampire in Brooklyn"? When it comes to spectacularly unfunny comedy, the supposedly very funny Eddie Murphy sure knows how to pick 'em.
He and his brother Charles conceived the story, with the actual writing credited to Jay Scherick and David Ronn, the duo behind such unpleasantries as "National Security," "I Spy," and "Serving Sara." To ensure the film's failure, Brian Robbins was brought on board as director. You may know his work: "Varsity Blues," "Hardball," "The Perfect Score," and last year's "Shaggy Dog" remake, to name a few. He's a bad director who makes bad movies. And so, with the lame premise, the dull script, and the untalented director all in place, "Norbit" was ready for action!!
Eddie Murphy returns to his "Nutty Professor" shtick, playing three roles: Norbit, a quiet nerd; Mr. Wong, the Chinese man who runs the orphanage where Norbit grew up; and Rasputia, the obese, domineering woman who has bullied Norbit into marrying her. They live in a small Tennessee town, where Rasputia's thuggish brothers comprise the local mafia, and where everyone knows and pities poor Norbit.
Norbit is resigned to his sad lot in life until he runs into Kate (Thandie Newton), his childhood girlfriend who's now all grown up ... and engaged. Her fiance is Deion (Cuba Gooding Jr., speaking of Oscar winners who embarrass us), who, in the film's lazy shorthand, is required to be a gold-digging scoundrel. Why? Because otherwise there might be, like, a DILEMMA when Kate eventually dumps him for Norbit (which of course is the film's only possible outcome).
Back to Rasputia, though. Yes, she's hugely fat and thus ripe for ridicule; Murphy is hardly the first comedian to dress up like a fat lady and stomp around for the sake of comedy. (For that matter, it's not even the first time Murphy himself has done it.) But Rasputia isn't just fat: She's also a total beeyotch, as the kids say, jealous, controlling, mean-spirited, and vicious -- oh, and unfaithful, which is necessary because it justifies Norbit's eventual infidelity to her.
The few times I laughed during the film (and it was very few), it was because of Rasputia. Some of the sight gags involving her girth are funny, aided in no small part by the amazing special-effects work of the legendary Rick Baker. (Further, while Robbins may be incompetent as a director, at least he had smart FX advisers on this project: The scenes involving multiple Murphys are astonishingly well done from a technical standpoint.) Murphy's portrayal of the shrill harpie is occasionally so outsize and repulsive that it's hard not to be amused by her ghetto-rat cluelessness, as when she squeezes herself into her tiny car and, every time, accuses Norbit of moving the seat up as an explanation for why she can't fit.
Then again, the character is still troubling. She's irredeemable. She's not a horrible person whose horribleness is explained by her low self-esteem, or by the cruel taunts she suffered as a child, or by a chemical imbalance. She's just a nasty human being, end of story. But where's the sport in mocking a creature such as that? From a comedic standpoint, it's too easy. From a storytelling standpoint, it's too lazy. Even the Wicked Witch of the West had some motivation for her evil (the whole house-on-my-sister thing) -- and she was an actual WITCH! Rasputia is supposed to exist in the real world.
As for Norbit, Murphy's task was nearly impossible. It's hard to carry a movie in which you spend the whole time making a "funny" face and doing a "funny" voice. With his grimacing smile and inexplicable New York accent, Norbit would be fine in a five-minute sketch -- but not as the central character in a movie. You can't be a fully realized, three-dimensional character when you're doing this kind of clowning, and you can't expect people to be interested in your character's problems if he's not a fully realized, three-dimensional character. Moreover, Norbit is the straightman in the film -- the gentle figure around whom the insanity takes place -- yet Murphy plays him big, as if he's supposed to be getting laughs.
Some of these shortcomings would be irrelevant if the movie were funny, of course; funny covers a multitude of sins. But it isn't funny, and these fatal flaws in the story, premise, and execution are part of the reason. The cast members who are not Eddie Murphy (including Terry Crews, Eddie Griffin, and Marlon Wayans as various pimps and reprobates) are left to flounder, with no material and no direction to save them from the awfulness that surrounds them. Timing is everything in comedy, and releasing "Norbit" into theaters at a moment when people are beginning to respect Eddie Murphy again is an example of some seriously screwed-up timing.
Grade: D-
Rated PG-13, some sexual dialogue, a lot of vulgarity and crude language, some profanity
1 hr., 42 min.
Copyright © Eric D. Snider.
This work may not be transmitted via the Internet, nor reproduced in any other way, without written consent from Eric D. Snider.
This item has 17 comments
February 10, 2007 at 7:04 pm
some movies you just know will suck when even the previews for them are disgustingly stupid and un-funny. I hope you get paid enough Eric to make up for having to watch such garbage...
February 12, 2007 at 7:31 am
How sad for our society that Norbit made $33 million its first weekend.
February 12, 2007 at 3:06 pm
I can't believe how much this movie made either... Do people not realize that if they keep supporting movies like this Hollywood will keep producing them??
February 12, 2007 at 3:57 pm
You write: It's hard to carry a movie in which you spend the whole time making a "funny" face and doing a "funny" voice.
To which I add, "Hello, SLINGBLADE??"
Aside from that immediate thought, yeah, this movie looks to be a Real Genuine Grade-A 100% Stinkeroo. I pity your having to witness it in all its utter patheticity.
Also, this comment gave me a chance to make up a word. Thank you.
February 12, 2007 at 7:23 pm
I know you have journalistic integrity to uphold, but wouldn't it have been easier to just watch the preview and guarantee the movie was going to be bad rather than sit through it? I mean, because the previews scream "awful."
February 14, 2007 at 5:30 am
I totally disagree with Eric on this one. I admit it wasn't that great, but it was way above average compared to most comedies from 2006/2007. It was much metter than Lampoon's Taj, Code Name: Cleaner, Tenacious D, Let's Go to Prison, Little Man, Epic Movie, Man of the Year etc. It's shocking that anyone can give this movie a lower grade than any of the movies I mentioned.
February 14, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Well, yeah, Rob, those movies were all impossibly bad but I don't think that movies should be reviewed solely based on how bad their competition was. If we do that, then we're basically admitting to ourselves that we've stopped expecting the entertainment industry to entertain us anymore, and once we concede that then we might as well just stop going to the movie theater. And THAT would be a tragedy.
February 14, 2007 at 7:52 pm
@Laura B.
Eric said it was hard, not impossible. Name another.
February 21, 2007 at 3:28 pm
With great shame I admit that I somewhat enjoyed "Showtime". Maybe I was on drugs that weekend or something, but it made me laugh. However, I haven't watched it again, so I'm not totally lost. As for Murphy, "Bowfinger", "Coming to America", and maybe "Trading Places" (which has seemed to become less funny over the years, admittedly) redeem his comedic endeavors to some degree.
I feel worse for Robin Williams, though, who had great stuff like "Awakenings", "Dead Poets Society", and "Good Will Hunting", then went on to star in "Death to Smoochy" and "RV".
@Everyman, how about Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove
February 22, 2007 at 1:06 am
"(A lesson I have learned: When a movie has an actor playing multiple characters, and the trailer plays up that fact by saying, "starring Joe Actor ... and Joe Actor!," you are in for a bad movie.)" -quote from review of 'Alex and Ema'
Eric knows what he's talking about...
February 22, 2007 at 8:33 pm
I was actually eagerly awaiting this film's release, not to see it, because I can smell horrible from a mile away, but to read what i hoped would be a review with a huge F from Eric. I must admit i was dissapointed that it got the D-, but i guess they can't all be F's can they?
February 24, 2007 at 9:02 am
I agree with Craig. I love when Eric slams a bad movie. It's very entertaining. And when I have actually sat through said bad movie (not the case with Norbit), it is quite therapeutic. Just last week, my wife's sister strongly recommended "High School Musical," and my daughters (6 and 3) really wanted to see it. So I sat through it with them. It was about what you would expect from a movie named "High School Musical." It was dreadful. So I came to ericdsnider.com and was sorely disappointed to find that there was no review. And then I found out it it wasn't even a real movie. It was just some Disney Channel special.
February 26, 2007 at 8:13 am
Good call on that Oscar thing, Eric.
February 26, 2007 at 2:23 pm
It kills me when ppl are so critical of a movie that doesnt appeal to them or their humor. I went to see the movie and was very entertained. Matter of fact it turned out to be funnier than I thought, listening to the reviews of the tight behind critics.
Listen not every movie is made for everyone. This one was #1 not for children, but I was amazed to see many many children in the audience, #2 you would have to have a little ghetto type, corny humor for something that has some truth and some imagination.
That is whats so wonderful about Mr. Murphy, he posesses a multitude of characters to satisfy any and everyone!
If the characters in this movie were not to your liking, then be thankful that "jimmy" in Dream Girls was.
This man is a genius and should always be considered as one, even if 50% of his charaters you hate (he has about 30different charaters).
He must be doing something right, 33 million the first week, and I went the second or third week and there were five vacant seats in the hole theater on a very rainy, cold day in the afternoon when you would expect noon would want to be out.
Cudos Mr Murphy I cant wait for Norbit 2!!!!!!!!!!
February 27, 2007 at 10:10 am
Hollywood is in a big farting contest. Enough people consider it entertainment to pay to watch the competition and perpetuate it.
Someone's going to have to try very hard to beat Mr. Murphy's most recent effort. The preview alone ripped the buttons off my shirt.
March 23, 2007 at 4:12 am
it was a stupid film with the same thing happening over and over again
June 5, 2008 at 9:01 pm
I guess you guys lack a good sense of humour and I believe with all these write ups on eddie murphy you should probably be working for an ad agency created just to bring Eddie murphy down "Us Vs Eddie". Look there seems to be more to it than you being a movie critic, to hear what you said in pluto nash seems like you might have been hurt that you were not the transvestite or probably he left you (a transvestite) for another. Stop hating!