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From Sundance...
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by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
C+ Rated PG 13 100 min.
For many years, Eddie Murphy has appeared in a string of mediocre movies, hitting his mark, and getting paid. Murphy’s Dreamgirls role showcased his acting talent, portraying a complex character with a touch of his classic humor. For this film, Murphy conceived the story and plays three characters. For the most part, he’s funny in all three roles, but the humor exploits black stereotypes that have been done to death–the nerdy black guy; the obese woman, and the Asian dufus as Mr. Wong.
Also appearing in the film are other character cliches, such as the pimps right out of the Blaxspliotation films like Shaft. His obese and obnoxious Rasputia not only slams overweight women, but cruelly reinforces the existing prejudice. Yes, on the surface, it’s funny, but it gets old quickly with the lame fat jokes and flatulence references. It borders on black-on-black racism.
Nonetheless, Murphy knows that ordinary black people love to make fun of themselves and find these characters funny. So Murphy, as Norbit, goes for the jugular. But is the movie funny? Yes, it has its moments. Frankly, I’m a Murphy fan and laughed at a majority of his shtick. However, there are many dead zones when the comedic air escapes from the scenario like a tire going flat–whoosh!
Norbit’s dream girl is his orphanage pal, Kate (Thandie Newton). She is the ideal racially mixed beauty. After suffering the horrors of Rasputia, Kate comes back to town to get married to her fiance (Cuba Gooding, Jr.). She then reestablishes her friendship with Norbit, who deep down, loves her. Again, the scenario insinuates that in the African-American community, the standard of beauty is light brown skin and caucasian features, as opposed to the overweight, trashy black woman. Could Murphy be making a not-so-subtle statement about the black culture? You bet he is, and if the shoe fits, it’s not funny. Obesity is a serious problem and woman suffering from it have a hard time coping with their self-image, society’s prejudices, and the fat jokes. For them, Rasputia is a cruel caricature.
Still, Murphy is a funny guy with his stable of nutty characters. Norbit is the quintessential black geek but he’s actually sweet and innocent. When he was still a kid, after Kate left the orphanage run by Mr. Wong, he needed a friend, and Rasputia came to his side. So he felt an obligation to her to marry her. But, when she has an affair with her dance instructor, Norbit is crushed and that is about the same time that Kate comes back to town.
Clearly, Thandie Newton is a remarkably beautiful woman. As Kate, she is sweet and naive. It turns out that her fiancé is a con man who has left a path of deceit and broken dreams in his wake. When Norbit finds this out, he is compelled to intervene in her marriage. But there are many obstacles to his exposing this cad.
The problem with the screenplay is the moments of drama are not cleverly woven into the comedic situations, allowing the laughs to wane in dead air. Murphy and screenwriter Jay Scherick should have stuck to the comedy setups and avoided the heavy drama. It’s too much of a contrast and loses the momentum, which is then difficult to reestablish.
This idea of a comedic actor in a fat suit has been overdone with Martin Lawrence and Tyler Perry making films using this concept. The special makeup by Rick Baker has come a long way, and looks shockingly real, especially when Rasputia appears at a water park in a bikini. Mr. Wong is also hilarious. It’s Murphy’s send up of the typical Asian guy. The orphanage doubled as a Chinese restaurant, which was funny. Mr. Wong is an outrageous character–one of Murphy’s funniest characterizations. Again, the make up and prosthetics are extraordinarily realistic. It’s hard to tell it’s Murphy inside that get-up.
Overall, the film has laughs, just not enough of them. But the use of these tired stereotypes reduces the humor to a pathetic attempt to make fun of someone’s disability. Being a hundred pounds or more overweight is not funny. It’s tragic. However, in the black culture there seems to be a tolerance of this type of biting satire. As long as Murphy’s commercial films make money, he is content to make these lackluster movies.
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