Review of Norbit

Norbit (2007)
1/10
Poor Black Trash
4 September 2007
As a self confessed intelligent black male watching this I felt nothing but disgust and vitriol for it. I was left pondering the question why are people still making dreck like this and flogging it to the masses.

All this movie does is sell the same old stereotypes in the same old package; I found some other reviews on here rather poignant when they describe the movie as misogynistic and anti-fat because the reality is it's also anti black.

It's hard to tell which parts are deliberate and which aren't but is there any doubting that the least vile and offensive characters are the least "black" or at least what this movie tries to indicate as black. Mainly you have a light skinned Thandie Newton who's dodges all stereotypes and effectively is the films protagonist.

Then you get on to the cringe worthy elements such as Rasputia who is possibly the most horrid representation of a black woman you'll ever see fat, lazy, aggressive and just plain stupid. Added to this you have horribly over used stereotypes where you almost could imagine the writers deliberating over shall we have the food theme as BBQ Ribs or fried chicken just pathetic. The conclusion at the end with the pimps (Eddie Griffin) in church is just horrendous as well. Whilst the final insult is the unveiling of Cuba Gooding Jr's character to have a string of children to different mothers.

The worst thing is Eddie Murphy has made a living out of the promoting the black stereotypes obesity, promiscuity, and criminality you name it yet producers will still allow him to make this trash as the ill informed will always just see this garbage for all the wrong reasons.

I am still waiting for a Black American Beauty something that is sharp, witty and mildly challenging, Eddie Murphy needs to realise that this stuff was just about acceptable 10-15 years ago, now its nothing short of banal.
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