Miles burton
Why all the hate? I think this film is epic. Very few movies made me laugh as much as this movie did. Top notch comedy! I suppose not everyone has the same sort of humour, but this movie was for me. I have a very wide range of movies, I love sci fi (Star Wars) my favourite one being the Terminator. But this was a movie that I put on whenever I am feeling down, and it never fails to cheer me up. This movie means a lot to me, and I don't why why there is all this Eddie Murphy hate??? I think Eddie Murphy played the character of Respucia brilliantly, and it came across to me how it s]it was meant to come across to everyone else. I don't know if I am one of the only people to have loved this movie, but in my eyes, comedy doesn't get any better than this!
Scarecrow-88
Tending to the books of a construction company for his monstrous, repulsive, ugly-mouthed, incredibly large wife, Rasputia's (Eddie Murphy) muscled, appallingly-bullying brothers (Terry Crews, Lester Speight, and Clifton Powell), Norbit (also Murphy) is stuck in a dead-end job and rotten marriage, the constant object of ridicule and mistreatment. Raised in an orphanage with childhood sweetheart, Kate (Thandie Newton, quite cute), who was fortunately adopted while he wasn't, Norbit falls head over heels for her on her return. Kate plans to marry a douche named Deion (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), a crook who marries women and divorces them for profit, in cahoots with Rasputia's Latimore brothers in the orchestration of gaining Mr. Wong's (also Murphy) orphanage so they can turn into a titty bar.I think Eddie Murphy is one of the finest comics of my generation but Norbit (2007), although a hit, is a major comic tragedy. Loaded in makeup as the horrible, gargantuan Rasputia, Murphy plays her as a fat caricature, and I often cringed at the sight of her. I didn't find her funny as much as tiresome. Then there's the henpecked, nerdy weakling Norbit, right out of Revenge of the Nerds (1984), who remains a victim all the way until the end when he is finally rescued by the locals when it appears Rasputia is about to hit him with a shovel (a spike into her butthole stops her in her tracks!) by Wong. His mistreatment is rather exhausting instead of humorous. Clearly wanting to go the Nutty Professor route for gags (echoes of Coming to America (1988) also come to the forefront), Rasputia isn't the same kind of hilarious character you see with the Klumps or the barbers. She's just a grossout. The constant belittling and dehumanization of Norbit doesn't produce laugh out loud belly giggles, but elicits pity. The desperate need for audience amusement is there, but this film is just a failure. Murphy deserves better than this misfire. Newton is a sweetheart, though, but her ignorance to how obviously corrupt Gooding is kind of paints her as naïve and easily duped…and that she signs papers given to her by Norbit without even reading them doesn't help her cause, either. Wong, a Chinese orphanage operator with racism to blacks and Jews (he admits this to Norbit in an oddball night scene that is more headscratching than funny) who actually wanted to run a laundry instead, never once made me even smile. I just found him lame. When Murphy's at his best, he can't be beat, but there's no mistaking he's made the occasional bomb or two (think Pluto Nash). He's human after all.
lakesidentertainment
My problem with this film is as follows: It's not offensive. Humour, in my opinion, is not offensive. This film simply lacks quality. This is what would happen if you taught a third grader all the sexual, racial, and societal humour of a thirty-year-old but left them with the brain of a third-grader. Essentially, there is no quality here. Just not funny, and it's not bad enough to fit into that category of "so bad it's good." It's neither funny, racist, offensive or anything at all. It's not worth wasting your time watching. I watched this movie with a girlfriend and didn't chuckle once, I was simply bored. I miss the good old days of Blazing Saddles and good social commentary.
