comment #1

Goulet says ...

The spoiler mentionned is actually the only time I laughed during this painful, painful flick.

Eddie should still get the Oscar for DREAMGIRLS, though, he's not being judged for NORBIT, thank God.

comment #2

Rob says ...

I think it's more that Eddie shouldn't get the Oscar for Dreamgirls anyway, and this atrocity is going to make it especially painful.

comment #3

Jeremy Smith says ...

"Borderline incompetent" = A Brian Robbins film.

comment #4

Rod32303 says ...

This smells funny...

...there was a time when Jeffrey wouldn't even bother REPORTING on a movie like Norbit. I don't remember assessments of "Pluto Nash" or "Metro" or "Showtime" ever on any of his sites...but because, I suppose, this pan and all the pans to come are meant as some kind of justification for his tirades against Murphy in "Dreamgirls"...

...whatever. Oscar nominees put out shitty movies all the time. If that Academy wants to punish a fine performance because another film (finished before Dreamgirls' post production was finished) then that's their perogative. I still really thought Murphy did stellar work in "Dreamgirls" and wonder what Jeffrey will do if the already reported atrocious Norbit ends up first place at the box office?

...still smells funny...and a little desperate. My opinion.

comment #5

Craig Kennedy says ...

Not only is Wells mislabeling other columns as 'official takedown pieces' in an effort to trump up his freakish vendetta, he's now referring to comments posted in his own blog as supporting evidence of his rectitude.

You sir are a mad blogging genius and my hat is off to you.

For the record, when Oscar night rolls around and Eddie Murphy loses to Alan Arkin and I have to come back here and admit that you were right, please know that I'll merely be acknowledging that you were among the first to point out the possibility of a Murphy loss. I won't be giving you any credit for making it happen and I'll still think you're a weirdo for trying to bring it about.

comment #6

Ju-osh says ...

I had a dream last night. A reinterpretation of one of the last scenes in the even-better-than-The-Friends-of-Eddie-Coyle movie, Black Ceasar.

In the original film *SPOILERS* Fred Williamson gets his revenge on the old, racist, Irish cop who has made his life hell by kicking his ass, making him wipe shoe polish all over his face and forcing him to sing 'Mammy' at gunpoint.

In my dream, though, Eddie Murphy kicks Jeff's ass to the ground and forces him at Oscar-point to cg an overweight black woman's face over his own while making him sing 'And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going' from the Dreamgirls soundtrack.

comment #7

JD says ...

Have a dream about Hell Up in Harlem, Ju-osh. It's even better than Black Caesar. Neither is truly better than The Friends of Eddie Coyle, though.

comment #8

Ju-osh says ...

I still don't understand how Jeff can say that making a universally panned movie negates the chances of an actor winning an award for their performance IN AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT MOVIE.

If, in effect, he's admitting that the Academy does not in fact award the most deserving ("best") picture, actor, etc, but instead uses any other number of character impressions, pet peeves and industry gossip, WHY DOES HE APPEAR TO CARE SO MUCH ABOUT THE OSCARS? Did he get this involved with the similarly trite and popularity-driven king and queen awards at Jet's prom?

Surely there are other films, actors, directors, etc that you respect and wish to write about more than the Academy Awards, Jeff. Why not promote those instead?

If it's simply a case of ad revenues and the almighty dollar, well, guess what? I'm pretty sure Murphy made Daddy Day Care for similar reasons.

comment #9

Ju-osh says ...

I don't know, JD. Not only does Williamson's body double star in most of Hell Up In Harlem, it doesn't have the awesome James Brown soundtrack, either.
That said, I'll concede that the Black Ceasar vs FOEC battle is an aesthetic one and fairly open to debate.

comment #10

Craig Kennedy says ...

Well Ju-osh, I think most of us would agree that these nominations and awards are really about more (or is it less?) than whether the nominee in question is really the best. If Scorsese can be rewarded for his earlier work, and some will argue that's exactly what's happening if he wins Best Director, why can't Murphy be punished? I'm not saying its right, but I'm not a voter so I don't have a voice in the matter and I do think these things have an impact.

comment #11

Ju-osh says ...

If that is Jeff's angle, and I don't imagine that most readers here really believe it is, than why does he continually state that the cinematographer from Children of Men should win - gasp! - simply for his cinematography in Children Of Men? Shouldn't he be telling us about the money he watched him give to a homeless person or the fact that he ought to have won for a film he did 10 years ago?

comment #12

Craig Kennedy says ...

Believe me, as I've posted numerous times before, I think his campaign is douchebaggery of the first order - but to think the Academy is a scientific, rational-minded body is probably a mistake. When the one you want to win wins, it's because it was really the best. When the one you don't want to win wins, there's always some kind of other reason given. Crash won because the Academy is a bunch of homophobes. United 93 wasn't nominated because the Academy is a bunch of "too soon" wussies. Scorsese was only nominated because he's due, etc.

comment #13

christian says ...

once again: arkin wins. from the git-go it was his.
murphy isn't in the running.

comment #14

T. S. Idiot says ...

Regarding the Norbit effect, we have to remember that these are the Oscars we're talking about. Since when are any films/performances judged solely by what we see on the screen? Liz Taylor won the first time only because she had just had a health crisis. For the record, Sergi Lopez in Pan's L and Ray Winstone in Departed gave the best 2006 supporting performances I've seen.

comment #15

Joe Leydon says ...

Gosh, Jeff, I'm glad you weren't doing this blog back when Michael Caine won his Best Supporting Actor award for Crimes and Misdemeanors. Otherwise, you would have been warning us every day: "And you know what movie Caine is shooting now? You know what film will keep him from actually showing up at the Oscar show? Jaws: The Revenge!!!!!!!"

comment #16

L.B. says ...

The Academy has the ability to cut through the bullshit to award a Tomei or a Hunt or a Benigni for their stellar performances and upstanding personal behavior. Whatever they decide to do will be beyond reproach. This is so worth debating I'm trying not to bang my head on the desk when I doze off.

comment #17

alynch says ...

Anyone notice how Wells seems to have stopped making the "Murphy shouldn't win because he's an asshole" argument and started making the absurd "Murphy shouldn't win because he's in a shitty movie just opening" argument. In his twisted head, the second one seems to make more sense.

comment #18

Ju-osh says ...

CJKennedy: I think we're on the same page here. I'm afraid my last post came off as argumentative toward you, but really it was supposed to be a sarcastic jab at Jeff.

comment #19

Craig Kennedy says ...

Crystal clear Ju-osh, I just wanted to make sure my devil's advocacy didn't come off as support for the madness.

comment #20

thatmovieguy says ...

I don't know if NORBIT will hurt Murphy's chances at the Oscar or not, but the film is pretty awful. It looks like he wanted to pay tribute to Jerry Lewis and Tyler Perry (or at least rip-off Perry's Madea character); instead he's only succeeded in wasting his talent once again. The biggest joke in the movie is in the credits: It somehow took Murphy and three co-writers to put together the "script," which is nothing but one long fat joke, broken up every once in a while by a feeble romance (Thandie Newton seems to be imitating Calista Flockhart's Ally McBeal character, and not too well) and a few slaps at the Chinese. Dismal stuff. The only people laughing regularly at the screening were little kids (who yukked it up every time someone called someone else a bitch) and an obese woman who nearly choked while trying to simultaneously chuckle and devour a large nachos, a large popcorn and a large drink.