I do like Eddie Murphy, and he has made some good films especially Beverley Hills Cop, 48 Hours, Shrek, Coming to America and Trading Places and Nutty Professor is better than it is made out to be. But then he made some horrible films as well, Norbit unfortunately scraping the bottom of the barrel. While not the best and most original story, I liked the idea for Norbit. So what ruined it? Eddie Murphy is good when given good material and doing numerous roles seemed great at first, it worked in The Nutty Professor. However, the characters he plays especially Rasputia are really clichéd and stereotypical. The film looks cheap too, and the direction does nothing to showcase Murphy's talents. The worst part were the jokes, none of them were funny, in fact some of them were pretty offensive especially the ones at the expense of Rasputia's obesity, and any film involving gags about oral sex, bikini-line waxing or plans of turning the orphanage into a titty bar makes me wonder why the certificate isn't higher. Thandie Newton looks beautiful and does try, but in the end it is yet another case of wasted talent. The only redeeming quality was the make-up, that was actually quite impressive, but with such a poor film with a script and jokes as diabolical as they are and stereotypes as long as your arm that seems like faint praise. Best avoided. 1/10 Bethany Cox
Review of Norbit
