Norbit (2007)

Saturday Night Live has produced many comedy stars.  Bill Murray, Adam Sandler, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler have all come through the quick and intense pressure of Saturday Night Live to find success.  They shared the stage with other great performers, but broke out to become stars.  The early 1980s weren’t that lucky for Saturday Night Live.  There weren’t a group of people bringing great content.  There was one big star, and a lot of performers meant to support him.  Sure, there would be a Jim Belushi or a Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the mix, but the early 1980s of Saturday Night Live were all about Eddie Murphy.

Eddie Murphy shined bright throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, but come the turn of the millennium, the quality of his work seemed to deteriorate.  Either he stopped trying, or his taste changed to the point where he could no longer connect with audiences.  Within that nosedive of comedic quality came 2007’s Norbit.  The title character (played by Eddie Murphy) was a mild-mannered man stuck in a bad situation with his unloving wife Rasputia (also played by Eddie Murphy).  Her family was trying to take over an orphanage run by Mr. Wong (Eddie Murphy again), to turn it into a strip club.  Luckily, Norbit’s childhood sweetheart Kate (Thandie Newton) returned to buy the orphanage.  Norbit had to find the courage to go against his wife’s family and give the orphanage to Kate.

The trope of comedians in drag seems to bring the careers of some performers to their all-time low.  Norbit is one of the worst Eddie Murphy movies in the same way that Jack and Jill is one of Adam Sandler’s worst.  Both movies involved the actors playing obnoxious female characters, though Norbit may be worse.  I never thought that could happen, but it did.  Norbit also didn’t have the self-aware aspect that seemed apparent throughout Adam Sandler’s dual role opus.

Norbit was filled with hate.  It was mean and hateful beyond belief, and removed any of the potential enjoyment.  Rasputia was the most obnoxious, self-centered, uncaring character.  She was introduced by forcing Norbit into a relationship which would last until the climax, and never get any better.  Her idea of having sex was to run full speed and dive onto Norbit, crushing both him and the bed under her large weight.  She blamed Norbit when she couldn’t fit into the driver’s seat of her car.  When she cheated on Norbit, she tried to kill him for leaving her.  She tried to kill a cute dog.  And when Norbit’s feelings for Kate rose, Rasputia locked him in the basement and threatened to pour acid on Kate’s face.  There were no redeeming qualities about the character.

Norbit wasn’t much better.  He wasn’t as mean to other characters, but he also wasn’t someone who the audience would want to watch.  The character was meant to be a guy learning how to stand up for himself.  What he ended up being was a guy who was okay with the abuse he received.  He presented a pleasant demeanor no matter how much people abused him.  When he tried to be happy, it wasn’t through sticking up for himself.  It was through being sneaky and duplicitous, just like those around him.  How could the audience sympathise with him when he was just as bad as the other characters?  You might think that character depth could do it, but there was absolutely no depth to his character.

Depth was also lacking in the storyline involving Kate’s soon-to-be husband, Deion Hughes.  His introduction was promising in that it set up his duplicitous nature.  This could have been a fulfilling investigation subplot.  Instead, Norbit simply ordered a background check.  At the end, he revealed the results.  Deion was marrying Kate for her money, as he had done to other women in the past.  Had the pacing been figured out with Norbit actually discovering these things himself, it could have worked.  It ended up being underwhelming and almost pointless.

Then there was the racism of Eddie Murphy playing Mr. Wong.  Nothing more really needs to be said about that because the accent and “yellow-face” speaks for itself.

Eddie Murphy received the three top billed spots in Norbit.  This could have been a great thing.  His work throughout the 1980s, both on and off of Saturday Night Live was great.  He has greatness in him.  Somehow, that hasn’t translated to the screen in the past decade.  Some might argue longer than that.  Even his appearance at Saturday Night Live’s 40^th anniversary episode didn’t have the heart and soul that his older work had.

Norbit was a mean movie that could have been so much better.  It came from a man who was known for being a comedic genius at one point.  However, the characters, the over-the-top performances, and the lack of depth kept it from being enjoyable.  It felt like a movie meant to break the audience rather than break out laughter.  It felt like a half-successful attempt at torture.  Norbit was annoying.

Hopefully these notes will be a little less annoying:

• Norbit was suggested by @whiskeyrich.
• Eddie Griffin was in Norbit.  That marks his fourth appearance in a Sunday “Bad” Movie, after two Deuce Bigalow movies and Date Movie.
• Norbit marked the third appearance of Richard Gant after Ed and Jason Goes to Hell.
• Also making his third appearance was Marlon Wayans, who was in A Haunted House and Fifty Shades of Black.
• Neisha Folkes-LeMelle returned to the Sunday “Bad” Movies with Norbit.  She was previously featured in Glitter and Showgirls.
• Showing up in Norbit was Kristen Schaal, who was also in Valentine’s Day.
• Terry Crews is now a two-timer for the Sunday “Bad” Movies, being a part of The Single Moms Club and Norbit.
• Finally, Mark Camacho was in Norbit.  He was already in How the Toys Saved Christmas.
• Have you seen Norbit?  Do you think its comparison to Jack and Jill was fair?  How do you feel about Eddie Murphy’s career?  You can discuss any of these topics in the comments section below.
• I’m always searching for bad movies to watch.  If you have any that you want to bring to my attention, let me know.  You can put suggestions in the comments or my Twitter feed.
• Add me on snapchat.  I share some funny letterboxd lists, clips of bad movies, and just random stuff sometimes.  Not a whole lot of me there, though.  I don’t like looking at me.  My username is jurassicgriffin.
• Next week is going to be interesting.  There was a movie that came out last year that was quickly considered one of the worst.  The trailer had people scratching their heads, and the full feature had them groaning.  That movie is Nine Lives, and I’ll be seeing how many lives I have to go through to put up with it.  See you in a week.