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Shelf Beauties |
Norbit Maybe
Eddie Murphy should
have waited for the Oscar voting and counting to be complete before
unleashing
this one on the world. Although, do you suppose one of his
Best Supporting Actor rivals thought it would be beneficial
to see this movie's commercials with some sort of message about
Murphy's Oscar nomination being said or imposed on the
screen during a segment featuring him wearing the nasty fat
suit and the sounds of flatulence in the background? Will I see
something like this on YouTube.com
by the end of the weekend? Would it be posted by Mark "Don't Call
Me Marky Mark" Wahlberg, because that's how a true Southie would play
it? Murphy stars as Norbit
– an
unadopted orphan who grew up at the Golden Wanton Restaurant and
Orphanage without
many friends. In
fact, his only friend
was the pretty little Kate, who was adopted by a loving family, and
left him
alone in the world until the bully Rasputia (Eddie Murphy) declared
Norbit to
be hers, and they married. Now,
he’s in
a miserable, abusive relationship, with an uncaring, hateful wife, but
hope
springs eternal. Kate
(Thandie Newton)
has returned to town (and she’s super hot!).
Can Norbit win back the love
of his life? Can he
escape Rasputia’s
evil clutches? In between an uncountable
number of jokes about bodily functions, sex, being fat, being ugly, and
being a
big bad pimp daddy, Norbit has some moments of sweetness that should
have been
allowed to grow and dominate the film.
Norbit
truly excels when we get a chance to know the vulnerable, sweet nebbish
who
increasingly realizes he must fight back to escape a horrible fate.
However,
that part of the movie doesn’t get a chance to win us over
until the second
half, so we are left with a first half where writers Murphy, brother
Charlie
Murphy, Jay Scherick and David Ronn go where Martin Lawrence, Rob
Schneider,
Adam Sandler (the early years) and the Wayans Brothers feel most at
home. Much like the movie,
Murphy’s performance is best when focused more on Norbit than
on Rasputia. As
Norbit, he is creating a human
character. We get
to see Essentially, Norbit is
another one of those endurance contests.
Can you stand the early filth to get to the gem
towards the end? I
guess that depends on how much you like
Eddie Murphy. Parents be warned, this one
is borderline rated R material, even though it is rated PG-13. 2 Waffles
(Out
Of 4) Norbit is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, some nudity, and language.
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