Eddie Murphy plays the title role in the comedy "Norbit," as well as Norbit's wife, Rasputia, and Norbit's guardian, Mr. Wong.
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Whether looking at Eddie Murphy's entire career or just his latest movie, "Norbit," opening today, the same line can be applied: there is more than one Eddie Murphy.
There's Eddie Murphy the brilliant sketch comic, who can match elaborate makeup and special effects with his own abilities to create characters that are simultaneously as broad as a cartoon yet captivating in their thoughtful detail.
In a way, Murphy is like a modern-day Peter Sellers in this regard. But unlike Sellers, who was known for disappearing behind his characters, Murphy has spent only part of his career behind makeup and made-up voices. Since he came to fame on "Saturday Night Live," he has been equally diligent cultivating Eddie Murphy, the star persona. The result has been even when he looks and sounds nothing like himself, there is a sense he is peeking out, sharing the joke with the audience. He's one of those rare stars who we never have to "believe" in a role to enjoy, and we never do, even when he's playing it relatively straight.
Murphy has something else in common with Sellers; his choices in film projects has ranged from those worthy of his talent to some real garbage.
Place "Norbit" far to the garbage side of that spectrum. Whatever demographic this movie was intended for should be offended by this sloppy collection of contrivances and lowbrow to no-brow humor.
Murphy plays three characters in this movie: the title character, Norbit, a lifelong schlep; Rasputia, his gargantuan monster of a wife; and Mr. Wong, the owner of the combination Chinese restaurant/orphanage who is like a father to Norbit.
What little enjoyment can be taken from this movie can be found in these three roles. Murphy's abilities are at full power in his portrayal of Rasputia, who is an epic nightmare of ghetto stereotypes. And to the extent one can disregard our social conditioning for knee-jerk political correctness, there is equal brilliance to be seen in the Mr. Wong character.
Murphy's Norbit is not quite as satisfying. He's kind of a generic, nerdy bully magnet, genetically predisposed to be an underdog. He's a nice guy, but it's hard to tell if we're supposed to see him as a victim of his environment or if he's not quite right in the head.
Claimed by Rasputia since childhood, Norbit is trapped in a marriage that's more like a prison arrangement. She and her three big, bad brothers have Norbit in a state of perpetual intimidation.
A ray of light comes into Norbit's submissive little existence when Kate (Thandie Newton), comes back into his life. The pair exchanged candy rings as they pretended to get married as children at the orphanage, and Norbit always held the memory dear.
Beautiful and successful, Kate has come back to buy and take over the orphanage from Mr. Wong. Norbit sees in her the potential for all his dreams to come true.
But there are the dual problems of Rasputia and Kate's fiance, Deion (Cuba Gooding Jr.), who's got "no good" written all over him in great big letters that only sweet Kate cannot see. The delicate dilemma of this dormant romance is further complicated when Deion and Rasputia's brothers conspire to steal the orphanage out from under her.
It all takes place in a contrived little community that has no name but could be called Studio Backlot, USA, population: a street full of cardboard bit players and extras.
Standouts in this community are a pair of pimps, played by Eddie Griffin and Katt Williams, who look to have been ordered from "Contrivances 'R Us." They are the heaviest thud in the heavy-handed approach to this entire project.
The flat, artificial setting is in keeping with a storyline that is utterly predictable, save for the level of tackiness in the humor, which seems committed to the modern tactic of when in doubt, get loud, violent and vulgar, especially as the story reaches a head, when everything disintegrates into onscreen chaos.
It is strangely ironic that "Norbit" will likely still be in theaters the same night Murphy finds out if he's won an Academy Award for his work in "Dreamgirls." It's a fitting irony in his career. He hits big and he misses big. "Norbit" is one plus-sized miss.
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