Norbit A Movie Review	MPAA Rated - PG-13 It's 1:42 Long A Review by The Dude on the Right

The career of Eddie Murphy is sometimes mind-boggling. First he does some brilliant stand-up work. Then some not. Then there are some great movie performances. Then some not. And just when you sort of forgot about him other than being Donkey in the Shrek series, he pops back up with Oscar talk for his role in "Dreamgirls." And now there is "Norbit."

If you recall a funny Eddie Murphy, you might remember "Coming to America" where he played a number of different characters thanks to some great make-up. In "Norbit" he plays three characters, thanks again to great make-up. First off he plays Norbit, the should-be lovable lead character of the film. He also plays Rasputia, Norbit’s morbidly obese and abusive wife. And finally he plays Mr. Wong, the owner of the orphanage/restaurant where Norbit was left as a baby. As the movie plays out, we see Norbit at the orphanage where he becomes best friends with Kate. Sadly, for Norbit, Kate gets adopted, leading up to Norbit’s meeting Rasputia who pretty much makes Norbit her bitch. He also ends up working for Rasputia’s hoodlum brothers who run a local construction company, but mostly just extort "protection" money from the local town folk. Norbit’s life is pretty crappy, but then grown-up Kate (Thandie Newton) comes back into town, brightening up his day, until, of course, we find out that Kate is engaged to Deion (Cuba Gooding, Jr.). But strange things are afoot as Norbit and Kate still obviously love each other, we find the true nature of Deion, and Rasputia nearly kills a little girl at the water park.

You know what, I’m not even going to waste any more of your time, nor mine, with a synopsis of the movie, because pretty much it is easy to see exactly where this movie is going from the start. What isn’t exactly easy to see is at what point Eddie Murphy thought this would be a good way to further his career? I know he had a hand in writing the story, and the initial concept seems kind of funny, but where things seem to get lost is whether they intended this movie to be safe enough to bring the kids (it isn’t, unless you want to explain to them what a tittie bar is, and they use the word "tit" a lot), or raunchy enough for the college kids and adults to laugh at it (it isn’t this, either, although I love the name for the nudie bar the brothers want to open – The Nipplopolis). The best scenes in the movie are those that involve either Mr. Wong, or when the neighbor dog talks to Norbit.

There is some talk that "Norbit" just might cost Eddie Murphy his Oscar for "Dreamgirls," but I hope that the Oscar voters aren’t that petty to count "Norbit" against Mr. Murphy. Sadly I have to say that I only give this movie ½ star out of 5. If you want to see Eddie Murphy at his multiple-personality best, watch "Coming to America" again.