听 No one could accuse Eddie Murphy of having his head turned by an Oscar nomination. No sooner had he toddled off the red carpet for his performance in Dreamgirls than he was on the big screen again in "low-rent farce" Norbit. Critics poured scorn on what was basically one lame fat joke stretched over 90 minutes. Even so, Murphy always puts bums on seats, this time scoring just under $100m.
Chewing The Fat
Few would be surprised to learn, in a standard Making Of featurette, that Murphy was inspired to make this film after watching a home video clip on the internet. A scene of domestic violence - one very large woman beating up her puny husband - was apparently so funny that Eddie called his brother Charles Murphy to help him write the script. As little bro tells it, he was flown out to LA, locked himself in a room with Eddie and, "We just knocked it out." Later on, Thandie Newton politely remarks, "It was more raw than I expected," but said yes because of the chance to work with a "comedy genius". The man himself (assuming she means Eddie Murphy) explains why he jumps at any chance to transform himself with makeup and there's a passing look at other effects work.
A Man Of 1000 Faces is a four-minute showcase for Murphy caked in latex as 400 pound nag Rasputia and Chinese restaurant owner Mr Wong. Apparently, he spent the first day on set fully made up as Mr Wong and everyone walked by him blissfully unaware. Or more likely they were just ignoring that weird old guy cracking the lame jokes.
Trimming The Fat
When it came to doing pratfalls in the fat suit, Murphy's stunt double Virgil E Carter was called in. We see glimpses of him at work in The Stunts Of Norbit, but let's face it, throwing yourself about in ten-inch padding is hardly daredevil stuff. The overweight stuntwoman who was hired for the waterslide scene had a much tougher time. According to director Brian Robbins, she suffered from a very bad case of chafing. No doubt incurred in addition to the general humiliation of being in this movie.
Fourteen deleted scenes may sound generous, but most of them barely amount to 15 seconds, which is just enough time for a crude joke about someone's butt, or else for Norbit to get body-slammed by his overzealous wife. Marlon Wayans also works up a sweat in a futile attempt to get laughs as gym instructor Buster. He fronts a mock infomercial for Power Tap, where he attempts to convince us that tap dancing is a great way to keep fit while sitting on the toilet. Of course there's no point in an exercise regime if you're living on a diet of junk. That's why we recommend avoiding this DVD.
EXTRA FEATURES
Norbit DVD is released on Monday 9th 2007.
