Norbit (Blu-ray) (2007)

"...Murphy may now be the Peter Sellers of blockbuster toilet comedy movies.  Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
"...hysterically funny...  Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
"...[Murphy] has a knack for bringing the physicality of his comic characters to life.  Steve Davis, Austin Chronicle

Editor's Note Norbit (Eddie Murphy, channeling Buckwheat and Woody Allen) is a shy, nebbishy fellow, raised by Mr. Wong (Eddie Murphy again) in a combination orphanage/Chinese restaurant in Boiling Springs, Tennessee. As a child, Norbit comes to love Kate, a fellow orphan, but the soulmates are separated when Kate is adopted. Enter Rasputia, an aggressive, plus-sized 10-year-old who protects him from bullies and demands his romantic loyalty, much like her thuggish older brothers demand "protection" money from all the merchants in Boiling Springs. Rasputia and Norbit eventually marry--and the peevish adult Rasputia is played to great comic effect by Eddie Murphy in a fat suit. Although Rasputia is controlling, unfaithful, hideous-looking, and always madder than a hornet, she and Norbit make a life together, albeit one based on inertia, fear, and complacency. The bubble bursts when the now-grown Kate (Thandie Newton) returns to Boiling Springs to buy Mr. Wong's orphanage. Norbit's love is rekindled, and he must find a way to end his loveless marriage, save Kate from marrying a crooked philanderer (Cuba Gooding Jr., in a rare villainous turn), and prevent Rasputia's brothers from carrying through with a big con job that would destroy the orphanage and Kate's life. Eddie Murphy, not surprisingly, carries the show, with broad, juvenile humor, fat jokes, and pratfalls, and while he never aims very high, he manages to inject some poignancy into Norbit's and Wong's characters, even as he plays Rasputia strictly for laughs. It's not Shakespeare--it's not even BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE--but the laughs are as big as Rasputia's muumuu.

	Clifton Powell
	Cuba Gooding, Jr.
	Eddie Griffin
	Eddie Murphy
	Katt Williams
	Marlon Wayans
	Terry Crews
	Thandie Newton
	Brian Robbins - Director
	Charles Q. Murphy - Based On Story By
	Clay A. Griffith - Production Designer
	David Newman - Original Music By
	Eddie Murphy - Based On Story By
	Eddie Murphy, et. al. - Screenplay
	Eddie Murphy, et. al. - Producer
	J. Clark Mathis - Cinematographer
	Ned Bastille - Editor

ReelViews 5 of 10
Now begins a period of prayer for Eddie Murphy - he must pray that no one who can cast a Best Supporting Actor vote in the 2007 Oscar race will see Norbit, because no one in their right mind could think of providing an honor to anyone involved in this misfire, Murphy included. All the goodwill built up for the actor as a result of Dreamgirls is cast aside by Norbit...Murphy doesn't do any acting in Norbit. This is all shtick - the kind of stuff that might work in a five-minute skit on Saturday Night Live. Norbit is a supersized version of Steve Urkel. Rasputia is Big Momma with bigger boobs. And Mr. Wong is a politically incorrect caricature of a racist Asian. At least the movie has Thandie Newton...Norbit operates on the principle that vulgarity is automatically funny. Crassness doesn't need a joke attached because it is (in and of itself) the height of hilarity. The very sight of Eddie Murphy simultaneously in drag and a fat suit is supposed to cause viewers to explode into paroxysms of laughter, and is topped only by his appearance in yellow-face as old Mr. Wong. Some of the most egregiously awful jokes fail so badly the first time (broken bed sex, Rasputia crammed into her compact car) that they're brought back for encores. In one way, it's surprising that the movie is so consistently unfunny. One would assume director Brian Robbins knows a thing or two about humor. After all, he directed that pinnacle of comedic excellence, The Shaggy Dog. Need I say more? - James Berardinelli

Reel.com 8 of 10
The Eddie Murphy vehicle Norbit is all over the map in terms of style, and that's part of its appeal--it's simultaneously genuinely sweet and totally vulgar without either tone canceling out the other. In fact, if anything, the innocuous love story at the movie's core gives the audience permission to laugh at jokes that would otherwise be considered racist, sexist, or just downright cruel. Norbit makes jokes at the expense of the handicapped, the overweight, and a broad array of ethnicities, but it rarely feels mean-spirited. The filmmakers have so much obvious affection for their hapless hero and the eccentric supporting players who surround him that the movie ends up being charming rather than offensive...Murphy, who also co-wrote and co-produced the film, is smart enough to surround himself with talented supporting players--he knows that by letting others be appealing he only makes himself look better. There are some hilarious vignettes involving Eddie Griffin and Kat Williams as a pair of small-town pimps, and Marlon Wayans pulls off the impressive task of convincingly feigning desire for Rasputia. Because the peripheral roles are so strong, one of the movie's weaknesses--its somewhat thin storyline--ends up becoming an asset because it allows the actors to create outrageously funny digressions...Some viewers may mistake the movie's satiric mockery of racial stereotyping for actual racist humor, but this is a misinterpretation of Norbit's agenda. Murphy and his collaborators are playfully mocking our assumptions and prejudices, not endorsing them. To this end, Norbit is a return to form for Murphy; while it's not on a par with his best work, it's very funny and just risky enough to eradicate the memory of Daddy Day Care. - Jim Hemphill