Funny guy, that Eddie Murphy. Whether he's a cop in Beverly Hills or talking the ear off a grumpy, green ogre as an animated donkey, there's bound to be laughs incoming. One film that the legendary comedy star swears has some giggles that seem to be overlooked, however, was his 2007 film, Norbit.
During an interview on Complex, Murphy revealed how he still stands by the comedy that now sits as his third-worst-ranked film on Rotten Tomatoes after A Thousand Words and The Adventures of Pluto Nash, with a score of only 9%. The film also came out only a week after he'd earned an Oscar nomination for his turn in Dreamgirls opposite Beyonce, which many believe impacted his chances of walking home with the shiny gold statue.
"I love Norbit," Murphy confessed. "Norbit came out right after I got that Oscar nomination. There were articles like, ‘How can he get an Oscar, he did this?’ They’re two different movies. I wrote ‘Norbit’ with my brother, Charlie [Murphy], and we think ‘Norbit’ is funny. Here’s the thing with ‘Norbit,’ it came out and they gave me a Razzie Award for worst actress, worst actor, and worst actor of the decade. And I was like, ‘Come on now, shit ain’t that bad.’”
Directed by Brian Robbins, Norbit saw Murphy dip into his familiar schtick of playing more than one role on screen. In this case, it was the titular character Norbit, his large and very much in charge wife, Rasputia, and Chinese orphanage owner, Mr. Hangten Wong, who you can imagine has aged as badly as it sounds. But while critics might've panned the movie, the box office receipts said different, with the movie earning $159 million against a budget of $60 million, so audiences were eating it up at the time. Maybe critics just weren't in on the joke.
For now, if you feel like a laugh, check out our list of the 25 best comedies to see before you die.
