Review: Norbit

A lonely geeky orphan who constantly gets bullied is saved by a “slightly” weight challenged girl. As the two grow older together, they form an interesting bond which leads to their unlikely marriage. His lovely wife enventually evolves into a domineering psychopath, which leads to the husband contemplating if his “350 and change” wife is really the one for him when a hot chick from his past comes back into his life. A whole lot of “fat” jokes ensue.

This movie had quite a few funny physical moments, as well as some good rants and snappy dialogue, but for the most part, it felt like I was just watching another version of THE NUTTY PROFESSOR. And I wish they could have decided which way they wanted to go with it. It had a Disney-ish premise mixed in with censored Eddie Murphy humor. They should have just made it Eddie “old school”; it would have worked so much better on so many levels!

Eddie Murphy is a comedic genius and a very talented actor! His character Norbit, however, I just couldn’t figure out. I wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be like a Forrest Gump kind of character, or just a shy geeky kinda guy. I couldn’t feel sorry him. His other characters were also amazingly done. Rasputia…was a fascinating look at how fat prosthetics can be taken to the next level and Eddie just brought that character to life with very scary realism. His Mr. Wong character was another real treat; it took me a few minutes to realize that it was Murphy. If they didn’t announce who he was playing I’m sure a lot of people wouldn’t even have realized that it was him.

Thandie Newton plays the new love interest for Norbit. She’s just so…”soft” and gentle looking and has an easy character to play. It was really nothing special other than looking hot and I never really bought into her character falling for Norbit. Eddie Griffin as Pope Sweet Jesus was hilarious as an ex-pimp. I loved his car license plate: SELLINHOS (hehe).

Also, they may as well give Rick Baker an Oscar right now for best Make-up effects. This guy has perfected the “Fat” and “Ethnic” effects prosthetics. It was unbelievable how the make-up was integrated, truly seamless!

It’s weird because I felt myself feeling awkward during some of my own laughs while watching this movie, as some of the gags were obvious “fat jokes” and let’s just say that there were a number “big-boned” members of the audience around me, who weren’t laughing as hard. Can you say: “Awwwwwkward!!”.

In the end though, it felt like I was simply watching a spin-off movie of THE KLUMPS, and while the performances were excellent, the secondary characters were fun and there were quite a few funny moments, the story was pretty one-dimensional and quite predictable. I miss the Old Eddie. I wish he’d come back.

— by Tim
Goernert