“Norbit” Podcast Movie Review

By Daniel Barnes on March 16, 2020

Norbit – Dare Daniel Podcast Episode 59

“Everything in this movie is so pathologically unclever.”

In this week’s episode, Daniel and Corky disappear into the roles of white, middle-aged podcast hosts with their review of the outrageously unfunny Norbit.

Eddie Murphy co-wrote and co-produced this series of fart and poop jokes, making Norbit one of the weirdest passion projects ever. He also plays three roles, including the lifelong loser title character and Rasputia, his abusive wife. Rasputia is fat, mean and destructive, essentially a human version of the boulder from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Her monstrousness is the film’s one joke, offered in endless non-variations.

The two saving graces to Norbit are Murphy’s go-for-broke performance, and the Oscar-nominated makeup work by Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji. Otherwise, it’s a nonstop series of sloppily constructed comedy bits peopled with racist and misogynist caricatures. Norbit is a movie designed for children that no child should ever be allowed to watch.

Elsewhere, Daniel and Corky discuss turkey ass, fart snores, power tap teachers and pimp-licious makeovers.

NEW DARES

Evan Almighty (Ben Parker)

Backdraft 2 (The Ghost of Bull McCaffrey)

NORBIT FACTS AND FIGURES

U.S. theatrical release date: Feb. 9, 2007

Domestic box office: $95.7 million (production budget: $60 million)

Critic scores: 9 on Rotten Tomatoes; 27 on Metacritic

This week’s craft coffee: Chapman Crafted Coffee’s First Roast (Single-Origin Guatemala)

This week’s darer: Mr. Positivity Wolfie T

Why did Wolfie T dare Daniel and Corky to watch Norbit? “Norbit is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen, but I only know about five people who have actually seen it. When I saw it in the theatre, my friend and I were the only ones there. When I mention it to people, I get eye rolls, groans, sarcastic laughs, and the most common comment is, “That movie sucks…I haven’t seen it.” No other movie podcast would dare touch this one, not even the one I co-host!”

IMDB synopsis: “A mild-mannered guy, who is married to a monstrous woman, meets the woman of his dreams, and schemes to find a way to be with her.”

This week’s referenced movies: The VelociPastor; Love on a Leash; Angels & Demons; Inferno; Fight Club; Bruce Almighty; Backdraft; Top Gun; the Nutty Professor movies; Boomerang; Harlem Nights; Ready to Rumble; Meet Dave; A Thousand Words; the Star Wars prequels; I Know Who Killed Me; Dreamgirls; the Madea movies; Coming to America; Forrest Gump; the Harry Potter movies; National Lampoon’s Animal House; Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas; E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; Road House (1989); My Name Is Dolemite