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.
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. 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,
Yet, to dismiss Norbit entirely is to ignore Murphy’s astonishing technical skill. He plays three distinct roles, often in the same scene, requiring hours of prosthetic makeup and precise, actor-to-actor blocking. Mr. Wong, the elderly, wise, stereotypical Chinese restaurateur, is a gentler caricature—a role Murphy performs with a surprising tenderness, even if the accent is a time capsule of an earlier, less sensitive era. The three Latimore brothers (Rasputia’s siblings) are each given distinct physicalities and vocal tics: Blue is the brutish leader, Black is the stoic enforcer, and Earl is the dim-witted, childlike one. In 2007, audiences laughed
Ultimately, Norbit is not a good movie. It is not a so-bad-it’s-good movie. It is a so-wrong-it’s-fascinating movie. It stands as a testament to a particular moment in American comedy when the only rule was “make them laugh, no matter the collateral damage.” For some, it is an guilty pleasure; for others, an unwatchable relic. But for anyone interested in the limits of comedy, the weight of representation, and the spectacular, sweaty, latex-bound ambition of Eddie Murphy, Norbit is essential, uncomfortable viewing. It is a film you can’t defend, but you also can’t look away from.