She also jumps on Norbit in a montage of their early marital bliss and breaks the bed. The movie is a firm believer in the comic law of threes. By that, I mean things are only funny when done three times. However, that law doesn't apply when a joke isn't funny the first time. It is also a firm believer in pointless scenes of Murphy talking to himself. There's a long, painful scene in which Rasputia tries to get Norbit to tell her that his old friend from the orphanage will be at the water park.

There's no joke there, because apparently the filmmakers thought Murphy would manage to gain some laughs with the banter. They were wrong. This is the low point in Eddie Murphy's career. If characters are the intellectual property of the actor who creates them, Murphy should be able sue himself for copyright infringement. These are just tiresomely generic variations on better caricatures Murphy has done before. Rasputia screeches (She even has a dreadful, maddening, and stolen catchphrase: "How you doin'?"). Norbit talks with a lisp and has a tight afro and glasses. Then there's Mr. Wong, who Norbit at one point calls a racist. Add "stereotype" to the end of that sentence, and you've got Mr. Wong. Murphy's derision for these characters permeates every scene, just as Thandie Newton, playing the grown up version of Norbit's childhood sweetheart, is visibly uncomfortable every time she's on screen. Cuba Gooding Jr.'s here, too, playing her scummy fiancé. Not only is the movie a series of flat, predictable gags, it also goes the route of a formulaic romantic comedy within the story of Rasputia's brothers trying to turn the orphanage into a strip club, just to spite us.

At one point, Gooding Jr.'s character yells "That's enough, enough, enough!" He is speaking for us all. Would you believe me if I told you he's actually trying to stop a musical number that has broken out in a church? Of course, you would believe me if I said you can see that sequence coming from miles away. And it's not over yet, because there's still a fight sequence, which once again, plays a joke three times that wasn't funny the first time. A dog talks to Norbit, too. Avoid Norbit as though your life depended on it.