Think Norbit is Eddie Murphy’s worst movie? Uh, the actor would like to remind you about the existence of The Adventures of Pluto Nash and Holy Man.
Murphy pushed back at the assertion that his critically panned 2007 comedy Norbit is one of his worst films, in a new interview with Complex‘s Speedy Morman. In fact, the comedian insisted the flick still makes him laugh to this day.
“I love Norbit,” Murphy said of the comedy he co-wrote with his brother, Charlie Murphy. “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.” (Murphy received his first Academy Award nomination for his supporting role in 2007’s Dreamgirls.)
“I wrote Norbit with my brother, Charlie, and we think Norbit is funny,” Murphy continued. “It came out and they gave me a Razzie Awards for worst actress, worst actor, and worst actor of the decade. And I was like, ‘Come on now, s— ain’t that bad.’ They was just hatin’ on me.”
“To this day, I like Norbit,” Murphy said. “There’s stuff in Norbit that makes me laugh.”
When asked to name his worst films, Murphy, without hesitation, cited 1998’s Holy Man and 2002’s Pluto Nash.
Murphy starred as the eponymous character in Norbit, about a man scheming to get out of his marriage to a shrewish woman (a role he also played, among several more) in order to rekindle a romance with his childhood sweetheart played by Thandiwe Newton.
Mark Sagliocco/WireImage
Eddie Murphy attends the Wall Street Journal’s 2019 Innovator Innovator Awards in New York City
Norbit picked up nine nominations at the 2008 Razzie Awards, a parody award show honoring the worst in cinema, including Worst Picture. Murphy “won” the award for Worst Actor of the Decade, among a few other “accolades.” He took a break from acting following the awards show, revealing in a podcast that the decision stemmed from the realization that he had been “making s—ty movies.”
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Murphy returned with such titles as Mr. Church, the acclaimed Dolemite Is My Name, the Coming to America sequel, and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. His latest project is the comedy heist The Pickup (streaming now on Prime Video), in which he stars opposite Pete Davidson as two truck drivers ambushed by ruthless criminals.
“There’s this generation gap between the characters,” Murphy told Entertainment Weekly of making the flick with his fellow Saturday Night Live alum. “What makes it pop when we get together and what makes us have chemistry is that we’re totally opposites.”
Watch more from Murphy’s conversation with Complex above.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
