Will Sloan’s review published on Letterboxd:
Eddie Murphy phones in a lot of movies, but for this one he brought every ounce of his considerable talent. He also has a writing credit, along with his late brother Charlie. This is his art. These are his guts splattered on a canvas. Take it or leave it.
Norbit is Eddie Murphy’s Monsieur Verdoux: the movie in which the dark and sour side of his worldview took over. It was a hit, but it was also Murphy’s last hit, and I sense that as Verdoux did to Chaplin, this severed Murphy’s relationship with his audience. After this profoundly misogynistic comedy about spousal abuse and the horror of overweight bodies, there was no going back to fluffy family comedies.
The Nutty Professor was a hypocritical movie, making you to laugh at Sherman Klump’s fatness while also tacking on a message about how It's Okay To Be Yourself™. In Norbit, Rasputia is made to look like a different grotesque caricature of black womanhood in every scene. Klump was a good and sympathetic man, but Rasputia is a monster inside and out. There is no redemption for her.
A compelling film with big laughs. One of Murphy's greatest achievements as a performer. I felt like a bad person for watching it. I haven't even mentioned the yellowface, holy moly.
