Movie Review: Norbit Starring Eddie Murphy

"Norbit" (2007), starring Eddie Murphy and Thandie Newton is rated PG-13 and is now out on DVD. But I don't particularly recommend "Norbit." The movie's tag-line, "Have you ever mad a really big mistake?," applies to "Norbit" very well-the whole movie feels like a mistake. I would rate it a **1/2 stars out of ***** stars.

"Norbit," starring Eddie Murphy is rude, crude and the humor is mostly very juvenile. But make no mistake, "Norbit" is not a family friendly movie and is not appropriate for children under 16. Between brief male rear nudity, quite a bit of sexuality and sexual innuendo this is not family fare. Also "Norbit" features constant, although relatively mild, foul language. Literally, I think almost every fifth word was a curse word. Frankly, I'm amazed that "Norbit" only had a PG-13 rating and not an R rating based on the frequency of the cursing.

If you have the sense of humor of a ten year old boy (fortunately, I do) than you will find a few laugh out loud funny moments in "Norbit." But, most of the humor is a failed attempt to be clever or funny. There are as many groans and gross out moments as there are laughs in "Norbit." The best thing about "Norbit" is, of course, Eddie Murphy. Eddie Murphy's talent for being a chameleon and almost unrecognizable as himself stand out in "Norbit." Literally, you forget he's playing several roles-each character he plays seems to come to life in itself.

Eddie Murphy plays several roles in "Norbit". First of all he plays the title role of nerdy, beaten down, good hearted Norbit. Then he plays Rasputia, Norbit's morbidly obese, truly evil wife. Eddie Murphy is even more unrecognizable and quite hilarious elderly Chinese man, Mr. Wong. As Mr. Wong, Eddie Murphy subtly (or at least subtly for Eddie Murphy) steals the show from the other characters, including the ones he himself plays.