Norbit -2007- -

No discussion of Norbit can bypass the towering, controversial figure of Rasputia. Murphy’s performance is a grotesque carnival act: he wears a 70-pound silicone fat suit, his face stretched into a permanent scowl with a tiny, pursed mouth and fierce eyes. Rasputia is written as a litany of the worst possible stereotypes about large Black women—she is loud, domineering, hypersexual, gluttonous, and physically violent.

The film’s best joke is its most self-aware: during the climactic wedding sequence, Rasputia tears through a fake wall like the Kool-Aid Man, screaming, “Oh yeah!” It’s absurd, stupid, and perfectly executed. But these moments are oases in a desert of mean-spiritedness. The romantic subplot with Thandie Newton’s Kate is the film’s weakest element—Newton, a genuinely elegant actress, looks lost, delivering lines like “I’ll always be your Boo-Boo Kitty” with a desperate professionalism. There is zero chemistry between her and Murphy’s Norbit, making the film’s emotional core feel like an obligation. Norbit -2007-

Flash forward to adulthood. Norbit (Murphy, in a subdued, soft-spoken performance) is a meek, downtrodden accountant trapped in a loveless, terrifying marriage to Rasputia (Murphy in a fat suit and heavy prosthetics). Rasputia is a monstrous force of nature: loud, sexually aggressive, physically abusive, and profoundly entitled. She and her three hulking, dim-witted brothers (also played by Murphy, in an astonishing feat of multi-role chutzpah) run the town of Boiling Springs, Tennessee, with an iron, spandex-clad fist. No discussion of Norbit can bypass the towering,

In the sprawling, often unkempt filmography of Eddie Murphy, Norbit (2007) stands as a unique and paradoxical artifact. It is simultaneously a masterclass in prosthetic character comedy and a film so aggressively offensive that it became a career reckoning. Directed by Brian Robbins and written by Murphy, his brother Charlie Murphy, and Jay Scherick & David Ronn, Norbit arrived at a specific cultural crossroads: the end of the broad, anything-goes studio comedy era and the dawn of a more socially conscious critical landscape. The film was a box office success, grossing over $159 million worldwide on a $60 million budget, but it also earned eight Razzie Awards (including Worst Picture, Worst Director, and Worst Actor for Murphy), a record at the time. To understand Norbit is to understand a film at war with itself. The film’s best joke is its most self-aware:

The story is a bizarre, hyperactive spin on the classic “ugly duckling” and “childhood sweethearts” tropes. Orphaned as a baby, Norbit Albert Rice is left at the steps of the Golden Wonton Restaurant & Orphanage, run by the kindly, elderly Mr. Wong (Eddie Murphy in his first of three roles). There, he meets Kate (Thandie Newton), a sweet, pigtailed girl who promises to be his friend forever.

In 2007, audiences laughed. In retrospect, the laughter curdles. Rasputia is not a character; she is a caricature weaponized for easy jokes. The film’s humor relies on the shock of seeing a slim, handsome Eddie Murphy “trapped” in this body, performing a minstrel show of femininity and size. The infamous bathtub scene, where a naked Rasputia crushes a flotation device and sends a tidal wave of water through the house, is technically impressive physical comedy. But it’s impossible to separate the craft from the cruelty. The film takes a vulnerable demographic—plus-size Black women—and turns them into a punchline for 100 minutes.