Eddie Murphy steals a new comedy
By Kenya Vaughn
Of the St. Louis American
As the first 10 minutes of Norbit seem to go on for hours, it was hard not to think, “Oh God, not another Codename: The Cleaner!”
But as long as the opening scenes seemed to drag, when Rasputia steps on the scene, the movie brings in the laughs. While Norbit is no Coming to America, it’s no Bowfinger either.
The pace is choppy, and some of the comic sequences are over-the-top to a point where they can be deemed offensive, but anyone who goes to see Norbit will get at least a few bouts of heavy and painful laughter.
The movie follows the title character’s existence as a throwaway pushover who gets compassion from a young girl who steps in and refuses to step off. He grows up and is continually bullied by everyone in his life. But upon the return of Norbit’s long lost love from his days growing up with Mr. Wong’s orphanage, things get ugly.
The all-star cast includes Eddie Murphy as the orphanage owner Mr. Wong, the title character and Norbit’s overbearing woman, Rasputia. Comedic performers Katt “Money Mike” Williams, Marlon Wayans and Eddie Griffin also appear in the film, along with Thandie Newton and Cuba Gooding Jr.
While the funnymen cameos have the potential for some seriously gut-busting laughter, they fall short when it’s time to deliver. Especially Marlon Wayans. His over-the-top performance was too much, yet not enough.
It is Eddie Murphy and Murphy alone who deserves the credit for carrying the big laughs in this film. Even though the big black woman drag is done over and over again by comedians in Hollywood to a point where it’s far past flirting with an expiration date, Murphy’s Rasputia would have been funny if she weighed 83 pounds.
His character transformation was amazing to watch. The timing and expressions and overall swagger for that rough-around-the-edges female from too-far-around-the-way who refuses to believe anything other than she “has it going all the way on” was uncanny.
The emphasis on her girth may make people dismiss his talent in the role and not allow audiences to see how hard he worked to bring that type of woman to life.
There were some fizzles in the storyline, but there was at least some laughter in each sequence to carry the crowd to the next funny.
It would have been nice to see a tighter storyline with a more normal Norbit instead of the love child of Steve Urkel and Murphy’s role in Bowfinger. Norbit could have gone further with the humor had it more of a realistic feel.
Writers Charlie and Eddie Murphy and director Brian Robbins decided to shock or gross the laughter out of viewers for much of the film. They should have used some of the downtime in the story to showcase Murphy’s keen eye for finding the funny among the most simple and regular occurrences in everyday life, like many have seen in his classic standup performances released as Delirious and Raw.
Viewers will have to settle for scratching their heads as they rest from splitting their sides. And it can be assumed that the beloved outtakes from this movie will be reserved as a strategy to boost DVD sales.
Norbit opens in theatres on Friday. The film is rated PG-13 and has a running time of 106 minutes.