While we love a riotously funny fat-suit joke as much as the next guy or gal (“Norbit” does have its ridiculous pleasures, or at least for a few minutes), we’re not exactly sure why Eddie Murphy has decided to write a third “Nutty Professor” film. Didn’t he say all there was to be said about a morbidly obese university professor who invents a miracle weight-loss potion in order to gain the affections of the girl of his dreams in the first two movies?
Oh right, like the former funnyman said in a recent Vulture interview, he’s “lost his edge” and is no longer cool, so therefore he just has to phone it in? Murphy gave up, what, circa 1999 with the hilariously underrated “Bowfinger,” but hey, Eddie, just cause you got kids and shit doesn’t mean you can’t at least be marginally funny. That said, as noted by “Norbit,” all of Eddie’s ‘bad’ movies tend to have some pretty wrong and funny moments, especially where racial stereotyping is concerned (Murphy’s favorite tack) and you can’t dismiss them outright, but overall his late-era output doesn’t have much quality control to it. [Access Hollywood]
