Throwback Thursday: Norbit And Jimmy

Apparently not tired of  all the makeup work required while filming his version of The Nutty Professor and its sequel The Klumps, Eddie Murphy decided to take another crack at a similar character in 2007's Norbit…







Which at any other time would have been fine.

Because hey, there's always a market for a film that makes you think of the Rent-A-Movie kiosk at 7-11.

You know, the movie that you always watched third...after midnight when you thought you had energy for "just one more". And you'd fall asleep halfway through.

But our Eddie also just happened to be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar that year. For his dynamic, holy-shit-he-can-sing-too turn as James "Thunder" Early in Dreamgirls:






And truth be told, he had a damn fine shot at winning if the perceptions of Oscar voters hadn't been clouded by Norbit.

The Tale Of The Dates also didn't help Eddie's chances.

Dreamgirls release date: Christmas Day 2006. A prime Oscar consideration date.

Norbit release date: February 9, 2007. Right in the middle of Oscar voting season.

Eddie thought he could win with these two movies co-existing in the marketplace.

Ummm….nope. Not by a long shot.

MTMG