A review of Norbit

This is slightly different from what I normally do on here, but I figured I'd post the short review of Norbit I wrote for Buzz Weekly. Check it out:

There is a certain type of person who goes to see a movie like Norbit, and I am almost positive that person is not reading these words right now. Eddie Murphy stumbled upon this critic-proof formula 11 years ago with the release of The Nutty Professor, a surprisingly heartfelt work of comedy with a likeable protagonist. With Norbit, the fat suits and raunchy comedy are back, but gone is the innocent sweetness audiences loved in The Nutty Professor movies.

Eddie Murphy plays the title character as a soft-spoken, awkward and insecure wreck. Norbit is married to Rasputia (Murphy in a fat suit), one of the most vile characters in recent movie history - and yes, I'm aware the new Hannibal Lecter movie opened this weekend. She is mean beyond redemption and so highly offensive that, naturally, the movie relies heavily (ha!) on her for its laugh-out-loud moments. Consider the montage of sex scenes, which showcase Rasputia taking running leaps onto Norbit and obliterating their bed.

The comedy in Norbit is lowbrow, but Murphy has become such a safe onscreen presence that it all seems less crude and racist than it actually is. Consider a scene in which Norbit's Asian father figure, Mr. Wong (also played by Murphy), tells Norbit, "I don't like black. I don't like Jew either. But black and Jew love Chinese food." These are indeed hateful words but Mr. Wong, one of Norbit's more fully realized characters, manages to turn it into a sort of compliment.

Three months after Borat, however, this all seems as lighthearted and inoffensive as can be - and a lot less funny. If one gets a kick out of fat suits, fart jokes and sight gags that feature a pug in a doggy wheelchair, Norbit is the movie to see.