Feel Ambivalent Thursday
I was going to save this for Feel Good Friday, but instead it will be here, on Feel Ambivalent Thursday. First the good news: Norbit has been nominated for a ton of Razzies:
Murphy’s “Norbit,” released amid a film-honors season that earned Murphy an Academy Awards nomination for “Dreamgirls” last year, received eight Razzie nominations, five of them for Murphy alone, more than anyone has ever gotten in a single year.
Besides worst picture, “Norbit” had nominations for Murphy as worst actor in the title role, supporting actress as Norbit’s beefy wife, supporting actor as an Asian man and worst screen couple for Norbit opposite either of Murphy’s other characters. Murphy also shared a screenplay nomination for co-writing “Norbit.”
“We decided that each of his characters was so offensive that he deserved individual nominations,” said Razzies founder John Wilson.
God, that’s funny. And yet Norbit was nominated for an Oscar for best makeup, while Hairspray was totally shut out. Oh my god, I feel ill. Are you aware that there are people in the world who actually love Norbit? What the…. what?!
Posted by mo pie
Norbit sucks.
I’m actually kind of proud of myself for holding my ground on refusing to see either of those movies. When I was visiting with my brother and his GF this summer, he rented two movies. One was a film my brother’s GF didn’t want to watch…the other was Norbit. I refused, and stated quite sternly “I don’t think movies with people in fat suits in them are cool. Especially guys in fat suits dressed as women. It’s just not cool.”
I repeated this story to a lot of people because I thought it was funny how crestfallen my brother was that we had to watch reruns of CSI instead of either movie. But when Hairspray came out, someone asked me if my “fat suits” rule was going to hold water. And as of now, I still haven’t seen it. Granted, I think the original version is fine because Divine wasn’t in a suit…but I still don’t think it’s cool, even if Hairspray the newer is supposed to be empowering or whatever. A fat suit is a fat suit. YMMV.
I was ambivalent about Hairspray for that very reason, and purposely didn’t see it. But when I got it as a Christmas gift, my Walken love got the better of me and I watched it. My instincts were right; I didn’t much care for it, and Travolta’s fat suit was the main culprit. I was unable to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the film because of it. I still don’t understand why they had to do it that way. I’d rather see an actual woman in the role than a suited up male.
As for Norbit, ohgodno. Nevernevernever.
Nominated for an oscar?! In what category? Douchiest movie of the year?
How did Norbit get nominated for an Oscar but Hairspray didn’t? It’s a good thing I really don’t care for those award shows, or else I’d be throwing a fit.
Although, to be fair, the make up artists who worked on Norbit did one hell of a job. Their work should be rewarded – or not – independently of the quality of the script, or the acting. That’s why there are different categories for the Oscar, after all.
Was the makeup in Hairspray really Oscar-worthy, when judged by itself?
Yeah I heart Nikki B. but I actually hated hairspray.. the original was soo much better. At least the offensive parts were campy enough to be funny. This one is a double sting for me cuz I hate seeing Queen Latifah in the mammy role :( I heart the Queen. Fat suits= not cool. Stereotypes= very not cool. And don’t get me started on Zac Efron…yuck.