Poorly told tale

Norbit is 110 minutes of oversized boredom. One Eddie Murphy is bad enough. But he wants to give us many more for the price of one, writes Ervell E. Menezes

Eddie Murphy plays multiple roles in the film. Two of the characters he portrays are the hero Norbit (left) and his bullying wife Rasputia

The 1980s were Eddie Murphy’s. He was a bright, new black star and his brand of humour was not only hilarious, it was infectious, what with films like 48 Hours (1982), Beverly Hills Cops (1984) and its two sequels. But that is history. Today Murphy has lost it.

He depends too much on visuals, exaggeration and distortions and revels in playing multiple roles. It might have worked in the silent era. Not now. He did it in The Nutty Professor. Now he’s at it again. In Norbit he plays the hero Norbit, an orphan, his oversized, bullying wife Rasputia and Mr Wong, the Chinaman who adopts him and owns an orphanage, none of them even remotely funny. The film moves from 1968 to 1977 and then to 1985 but his best days were when he grew up with Kate. In the meanwhile, he is badgered, bullied and berated by his huge wife Rasputia and her equally big dominating brothers Big Jack, Earl and Blue.

He hardly occupies one-fourth of the bridal bed and in Boiling Springs, Tennessee, Norbit is the laughing stock of the community. To call him hen-pecked would be an understatement. But can this mild-mannered mouse find his inner lion and act. Yes, but only after Kate (Thandie Newton) returns to Boiling Springs to marry Deion (Cuba Gooding Jr) and buy Mr Wong’s orphanage.

Till then the film limps along with the oversized Rasputia virtually hogging the camera. When she drives her car, the horn keeps honking for obvious reasons, her bulging bustline. If that is not enough "breaking wind" is another all-American gag. Of course there are plenty more from where these came from (Eddie and his brother Charles Murphy have written the screenplay) but of all these "the other cheek" only comes close to being funny. If one has to look for a saving grace, it comes in the shape of two ex-pimps Pope Sweet Jesus (Eddie Griffin) and Lord Have Mercy (Katt Williams).

The spark Norbit had for Kate as a kid finally becomes a blazing bushfire and it doesn’t take long to set things right. But it’s hardly worth waiting for. By then director Eddie Murphy has already killed and buried the story. It is 110 minutes of oversized boredom. One Eddie Murphy is bad enough. But he wants to give us many more for the price of one. But thanks, no thanks, Mr Murphy, we’d rather have quality and remember you in your salad days.

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