NORBIT

"How YOU doin'"

Norbit (Murphy) has never had any luck. Abandoned by his parents and brought up in a Chinese orphanage by Mr. Wong (Murphy), he spent the whole of his childhood being bullied until he met Rasputia (Murphy). Then his life got worse. Forced into marriage and bullied by her and her three huge brothers, Norbit thought he would never be happy until his only childhood friend Kate returned to town.

Eddie Murphy returns to comedy and something he used to be famous for, playing multiple characters, but can Norbit announce his triumphant return to comedy?

Do you remember a time when Eddie Murphy was good? 'Trading Places', '48Hrs', 'Coming to America', 'The Nutty Professor' and 'Beverley Hills Cop' were the movies that put him on the international superstar map after starting his career on 'Saturday Night Live'. But lately he has made us suffer with more family oriented movies like 'Daddy Day Care', 'Dr. Dolittle', 'The Haunted Mansion' and 'Pluto Nash'. Only his voice acting for 'Mulan' and the 'Shrek' movies have being his saving grace but after an Oscar nominated performance in 'Dreamgirls', fans may have thought that Eddie was back on form. Unfortunately you would be badly mistaken.

'Norbit' is just awful. Besides from suffering from a condition that most comedy films suffer from as of late, showing most of the 'best' gags in the trailer, 'Norbit' is just not funny. With only one real gag running through the film, Norbit been married to an extremely large, controlling and selfish woman, the film is uninspired with too many stereotypes and is plainly not funny.

The performances don't help either. It is hard to believe that an actress of Thandie Newton's character agreed to appear in a movie like this and then be completely awful. The same can be said for Cuba Gooding Jr. who proves again that his Oscar win might just be the highlight of his career. The rest of the cast are just as dreadful, with Eddie Griffin just playing the same role he played in the Deuce Bigalow movies, Katt Williams just copying off him and Terry Crews is his usual self.

'Norbit' is a dreadful movie and one that will join Eddie Murphy's growing resume of rubbish films. With Rasputia been completely repulsive and annoying, just saying 'How YOU Doin'?' every time she speaks, Mr. Wong constantly been extremely racist and Norbit himself suffering from a complete lack of charisma, all of Eddie Murphy's creations just make want to ask him 'do you actually think these are funny?'

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 with Dolby Digital 5.1, the movie is presented well.

BONUS FEATURES

The Making of Norbit (20.42 mins)
Director Brian Robbins, producer John Davis, visual effects producer Les Hunter, special effects make-up designer Rick Baker, screenwriter Charles Murphy, Rasputia body double Lauren Miller and stars Eddie Murphy, Thandie Newton, Clifton Powell, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terry Crews, Michael Colyer, Anthony Russell, Lester 'Rasta' Speight, Katt Williams, Marlon Wayans and Eddie Griffin take you behind the scenes of 'Norbit'. The group talk about the idea behind the movie, creating the characters, casting and the visual effects needed to bring Eddie Murphy's three performances to the silver screen.

Man of 1000 Faces (4.07 mins)
Director Brian Robbins, producer John Davis, special effects make-up designer Rick Baker and stars Eddie Murphy, Lester 'Rasta' Speight, Terry Crews and Eddie Griffin talk about how Rasputia, Mr Wong and Norbit were brought to life.

Power Tap (4.37 mins)
Buster Perkins (Marlon Wayans) introduces you to the next fitness phenomenon that is going to sweep the world, Power Tap.

The Stunts of Norbit (11.21 mins)
Director Brian Robbins, producer John Davis, stunt coordinator Andy Gill and stunt doubles Aaron Toney and Virgil E. Carter talk about the many comedic stunts in movie. Here we see how the stunt team had to become Norbit and Rasputia to create the falls and action in the movie.

Deleted Scenes (8.06 mins)
Entitled 'Wash Dishes', 'Chicken', 'Proposal', 'Easter Love Scene', 'Teasing Norbit', 'Golden Wanton Restaurant', 'Pick-up lines', 'Deion consoles Kate', 'Ceiling Beams', 'Bike Escape', 'Pimps heal man', 'Pimps heal woman', 'Rasputia vs. Morris the Barber' and 'Wild and Crazy', these deleted scenes suffer from the lack of a commentary track or introduction to reveal why they were removed.

Photo Gallery
View behind the scenes shots and publicity images from 'Norbit'

Theatrical Trailer (1.49 mins)
View the preview that introduced the film to audiences at cinemas and the internet.

Previews
Trailers for 'Dreamgirls' and 'Year of the Dog'

OVERALL

The DVD treatment for 'Norbit' is pretty good but not as good as it could have been. The lack of a commentary track will come as a real disappointment to fans. The Power Tap advert is actually funny than the movie and the behind the scenes featurettes are fine but it could have been better.

DVD

The Nutty Professor

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2007