AT THE MOVIES WITH DILLON KIMMEL
Norbit Rice’s (Eddie Murphy) luck ran out the day he was born. Quite literally tossed onto the doorstep of the Golden Wonton Restaurant and Orphanage, Norbit endures a not-so-normal upbringing, even by orphan standards. The one bright spot in Norbit’s early life is the genial Kate (Thandie Newton). The two become best friends at the orphanage, even going as far as to “marry” each other at the tender age of nine. But when Kate gets adopted, Norbit is left with nothing but a broken heart.
So when the burly Rasputia (Eddie Murphy) barrels her way into Norbit’s life, the lonely, introverted geek is happy to have someone who is willing to be there for him. Fast forward 20 years: the years have not been so kind to Rasputia’s figure, the two are not (not so) happily married, and she rules their cozy home with an iron, oversized fist.
Utterly henpecked, Norbit has all but given up that he will ever live a happy life when he abruptly discovers Rasputia is cheating on him and that Kate has moved back home to buy the orphanage she grew up in. But in order to rekindle the fire with Kate, Norbit must avoid his meddlesome wife or risk her jumbo-sized wrath. To further complicate matters, Norbit soon learns that Kate’s scheming fiancé (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) and Rasputia’s three brutish brothers plan to steal the orphanage’s land away from Kate and build a strip bar in its place. Insecure after years of abuse at the hands of his mountainous wife, Norbit must summon courage he never thought he possessed to protect his long lost love from making a grave mistake.
Norbit walks the tight rope of political correctness and narrowly avoids stumbling into the abyss of complete distaste. It spares no group when taking cheap shots, and its childish sex gags garner few laughs. At times, a scene seems to have potential, but then some on-screen idiot does or says something to quickly turn those giggles into eye-rolls.
Eddie Murphy, who plays three roles in the film, follows up a wowing performance in Dream Girls with a distinct thud. Murphy used to flourish as multiple roles in comedic classics like The Nutty Professor and Coming to America, but his talents are badly misused in this film. He plays three distinct characters (Norbit, Rasputia, and Mr. Wong, the head of the orphanage in which Norbit was raised) but fails to differentiate the three. They all come off fake and surprisingly boring. Even the boisterous Rasputia is so unruly that she becomes all-too predictable in the movie’s closing moments. She is so rude, so vulgar, so obnoxious that she single-handedly chokes the life out of the entire film. It’s as if the filmmakers got together and tried to come up with the absolute worst image of a housewife they could possibly imagine, then, proceeded to create her. The result is revolting and hideous.
This is déjà vu filmmaking (I think I’ve seen this before) at its best. I’ve seen every gag, every joke, and every piece of slapstick violence in this film in other, far more superior comedies. It’s rude, crude, and nothing is new. The premise sounds like a good, comedic time, but the actual result is almost as painful as the look on Eddie Murphy in his latex cellulite suit.
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