Norbit

Norbit; comedy, USA, 2007; D: Brian Robbins, S: Eddie Murphy, Thandie Newton, Terry Crews, Eddie Griffin, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Marlon Wayans

Norbit was abandoned as a baby by his parents and thus grew up in an orphanage run by Mr. Wong, where he met Kate. When she was adopted, they separated. Norbit became an unwilling protege for the overweight Rasputia, who persuaded him to marry her. Years later, he meets Kate again since she wants to restore the orphanage, but is disappointed that she is engaged to Deion. However, it turns out Deion only wants to marry her to build a strip club instead of the orphanage, which is why Kate dumps him and falls in love with Norbit again.

Another cheap comedy that was saved only thanks to Eddie Murphy's comic talents, who unfortunately wasted it too often by saving weak scripts by being the only good ingredient in them. "Norbit" is at times almost intolerably stupid, heavy handed (no pun intended!) and clumsily crafted, once again promoting the wrong (and unforgivable) notion that all comedies must be primitive in order to be funny. That is entirely untrue. If you want intelligent comedies displaying one actor playing more roles, see "Tootsie" or "Dr. Strangelove". For the rest of the public who are satisfied with "fat jokes" revolving only around an obese woman wrecking everything, the simple and accessible "Norbit" will have to do. Still, as already said, Murphy is surprisingly good, regardless of the story, both as the shy and kind title hero (especially when he says to Kate that he is "at peace with the world" when he is with her) and the fat-obnoxious Rasputia, who is such a caricature that is actually funny at times (the water slide sequence and the comical situation where it is obvious that she has troubles getting into her car because she is getting fatter, but Norbit is too scared to tell her so he just says that "the car must be shrinking due to all the rain and moisture").

Grade:+