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Thing
is, Murphy’s gotten so use to doing so little for so much (yep, you
heard right; so little for so much) that he’s decided his cinematic
diet doesn’t need tweaking at all. You see, in the past couple of
years, Murphy’s been holidaying in ‘family comedy’ land – starring in
the likes of the unintelligible but hugely successful box-office
smashes’ Dr Dolittle and The Nutty Professor – and he’s hardly had to lift a finger.
His
experience with the latter – which earned quite a pretty penny on
release; as did its sequel – was so positive that he’s been ordering a
serve of ‘anything similar’ since.
He obviously believes
audiences are hungry for more of the ‘comedian plays dress-up’
comedies… but he’s wrong. We’re full, right? Didn’t even require
seconds, let alone thirds.
Norbit, a weedy bespectacled wimp, is
raised by a kindly but racist Chinese man (Murphy) who unfortunately
couldn’t stop his ‘almost son’ from marrying the monstrously huge and
damn mean-spirited Rasputia (Murphy).
Now, Norbit’s stuck in
marital hell – and if he ever tries to escape, Rasputia and her three
equally huge brothers will come after him. Escaping never entered his
mind, not until an old childhood flame (Thandie Newton) reappears in
his life.
Norbit, for better or worse, is the blacksheep sister of The Nutty Professor
films – simply just not as good. It’s essentially (besides the
character names and whatever thin script there is) the same film. For
an hour and a half, Murphy gets to either wear a fat suit or wear tons
of make-up to play several different characters. Granted, the make-up
job that Rick Baker has done here, and in the previous films he has
worked with Murphy on, are outstanding. I can’t tell you how many
people in the audience I saw the film with didn’t spot Murphy as the
old Chinese man at the start of the film – he was truly unrecognisable.
But the make-up job is the only redeeming quality of the film.
Yes
there a couple of good jokes – the ‘fat jokes’ at the water park are
the best - but you’ve seen them in the overplayed trailer.
Most of the film was filmed at both the backlot of Universal Studios and the backlot (predominately, where they film TVs Gilmore Girls)
of Warner Bros Studios – and its shows big time. The movie is almost a
commercial for the backlot tours – cutting between the two backdrops
like it were a co-op marketing campaign. The fact that the production
didn’t move beyond studio walls cheapens it even more.
The jokes
aren’t that hot, the storyline’s a bit all over the place, and the
performances are almost non-existent (though obviously Murphy’s quite
good at trying on different accents and so on), but Eddie Murphy pulls
the best funny faces around. Decide for yourself whether that’s enough
to shell out greenbacks for.
EXTRAS
The DVD includes a bunch of featurettes - one on the make-up man;
another on the stunts, etc - and some other not-very-interesting bits
and pieces; like deleted scenes and a photo gallery. Conclusion:
Movie 50% Extras: 40%
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