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Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that kids who liked Murphy's Nutty Professor movies may very well want to see this one, too, despite the fact that it's rife with raunchy humor and stereotypes. Most of this centers on the large body of Murphy's female character, Rasputia, and includes wide-angle shots of her flesh (looking menacing and grotesque) and jokes about her appetites for sex and food. Rasputia is also cruel, which means that many jokes feature her physically abusing Norbit. Sexual allusions are swift, crude, and frequent. Violence is cartoonish and loud (bodies fall, fly through the air, and hit each other). Language is relatively mild but incessant -- primarily "damn," "hell," "ass," and "bitch."
Families can talk about the appeal of gross-out humor. Where do you draw the line between silly and offensive? Is it funny to see actors dress in drag and/or bury themselves in fat suits? Why? Rasputia is a strong, powerful woman -- but she's also cruel, self-indulgent, and constantly the butt of jokes for her voracious appetites. As a consequence, what messages does the movie send about body image and gender roles? Why do you think Eddie Murphy is drawn to make movies like this?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs
NORBIT's tagline pretty much sums up the movie: "Have you ever made a really big mistake?" The biggest one is the film's premise, that Eddie Murphy is married to himself. Given his notorious ego, this is either ironic or self-serving. The fact that the wife, Rasputia, is wholly obnoxious, mean, self-indulgent, and huge suggests the latter: She's a walking, talking racist and misogynist stereotype,.
Directed by Brian Robbins, the movie spends a few minutes setting up a background for nerdy, well-meaning Norbit (played by Murphy as an adult). As a child, Norbit's parents left him at an orphanage run by Mr. Wong (also played by Murphy, and another egregious stereotype). At age 5, Norbit's best buddy is Kate, but when she's adopted, they lose track of each another. He's soon approached by a large girl named Rasputia, who beats up the kids who pick on him and expects utter subservience and loyalty in return. Norbit agrees to her terms, going so far as to marry her when he comes of age.
Their marriage is rendered in a few horrific montages and short scenes, focused mainly on how Rasputia overwhelms Norbit in bed (she literally throws herself on him, repeatedly breaking the bed). Her dominance is bolstered by her big brothers -- Big Jack (Terry Crews), Earl (Clifton Powell), and Blue (Mighty Rasta) -- all of whom are aggressive and menacing, not to mention greedy. When Norbit discovers that Rasputia is cheating on him with her aerobics instructor (Marlon Wayans), he finds solace with Kate (Thandie Newton), who's returned to town to take over the orphanage.
The plot matters little, except that it serves as an excuse for "Chinese" pronunciation jokes and grants screen time to a couple of extraneous pimps -- Pope Sweet Jesus (Eddie Griffin) and Lord Have Mercy (Katt Wiliams) -- who provide still more stereotypes to laugh at. And along with the many, many jokes about Rasputia's large body (one is lifted straight from Date Movie, using Kelis' song "Milkshake" as bouncy soundtrack), she serves another function, too: scheming with her brothers and Kate's rapscallion fiancé Deion (Cuba Gooding Jr.) to steal the smaller woman's money and turn the orphanage into a "titty bar."
As Norbit realizes he's in love with Kate and can't stand Rasputia, he finally gets up enough nerve to leave his wife, despite her physical abuse. This passes for resolution and is underlined when Rasputia suffers some awful mistreatment as well, primarily at the hands of Mr. Wong, who inexplicably practices whale-harpooning and so gets to yell out, "Whale, ho!" as he assaults her.
Bottom line? This is a pointless exercise in gross-out humor that will probably offend just about everyone at some point -- and definitely make you wonder why Murphy can't seem to get enough of fat suits. That said, if men in large-woman drag tickles your funny bone, you might like Mrs. Doubtfire and Big Momma's House. Or try Bowfinger, a slightly higher-brow comedy in which Murphy also plays multiple characters.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentNonstop sexually themed jokes and innuendo. Frequent gags about Rasputia's sexual appetites and body (breasts set off car horn, cleavage is visible, bikini shows lots of skin, shots of nipples through clothes, she washes car in slow motion); pimps evaluate/disparage women and talk about "johns" and "bitches" one sexual scene shows a woman dressed as a chained slave and a man dressed as Abraham Lincoln; sexualized dance moves; sex game features "squealing like a pig" joke about adulterer's erection; sexual allusions like "tap ya" and "power tap" several references to "titties" and "strip joint"/"titty bar" (to be called "Nippolopolous"); visual bikini wax joke (violent and sexual); joke about trying to "nail" a girl; romantic kisses between Norbit and Kate. |
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ViolenceRepeated hard hits, falls, throws; father dumps swaddled baby from car; threat to kick teeth out; at fairground, kids are thrown through air and land hard; Rasputia hits a pug dog with her car and breaks its legs (it appears in casts later); Rasputia frequently abuses Norbit (knocking him out at one point); harpoon-throwing; aggressive slapping; hard falls off bicycle; climactic fight features many whomps and hits with implements. |
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LanguageLots of name-calling ("stupid," "ugly," "gorilla," "bastard," "screwy"); many uses of words like "ass," hell," "s--t," and "damn" (and more than 20 uses of "bitch"); sexual slang ("ho," "whore," "skank"); jokes about not liking "black people" or "Jews." |
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Social BehaviorAbusive, mean-spirited bullies; blatant racial stereotypes prey on Chinese and Italian characters, African-American pimps, an overbearing African-American woman, and an elderly Caucasian woman; characters cheat, lie, and commit adultery; plenty of fart jokes and "gross-out" eating jokes. |
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CommercialismReference to Mentos; pimps drive Cadillac. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoBeer and wine. |
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