Assbike Movie Review: Norbit

Dialogic Themes Abound In Murphy's Norbit

In "Norbit" Murphy is both Norbit, the eponymous anti-hero of this latest cinematic non pareil and through computer trickery and layers of latex is transformed into Rasputia, the feminized Gargantua it has befallen him to marry.

As the allegorical Everyman Norbit is de Troyes' Tristan opposite Kate's Iseult, played by the elegant and stick-like Thandie Newton. Even the most minute detail does not escape Murphy's clever dialogism and even a perfunctory viewing will delight; for instance the moniker "Norbit" - a forthright nod to Ibsen's Nora.

Rasputia, given her regal carriage and an oft repeated solecism: "How you doin' ?" offers numerous Rabelaisian shenanigans to keep the viewer engrossed while the infatuated Norbit goes about his quest to woo Kate; aided by a pair of streetwise rude mechanicals.

When Rasputia's overbearing brothers assignate Norbit the seemingly commodius task of procuring young Kate's signature on a building permit a series of denouements of bobdingnagian proportions ensues, finally resolving in a morally ambigous ending.

Viewers will appreciate "Norbit" as an au courant addendum to Truffant's "La femme d'a cote" and it is no mean task to bring the eternal tale of Tristan and Iseult into the Sarkozy era, but without the overbearing didacticism prevalent in 21st century filmaking. This reviewer gives "Norbit" two thumbs up.