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JANE HORWITZ - FAMILY FILMGOER

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February 8, 2007

``Norbit'' (PG-13, 1 hr., 42 min.)

Insulting overweight women, spoofing various ethnicities and being mean to sweet little dogs, ``Norbit'' is rude, crass, politically incorrect and yet often very funny. This story of a small-town milquetoast (Eddie Murphy) held hostage by a huge and mean wife (also Murphy) and how he literally gets out from under her, serves up a feast of low comedy. Not an appropriate diet for middle-schoolers, with all its euphemistic sex jokes and innuendo, it will make plenty of high-schoolers guffaw. Finding enjoyment in ``Norbit'' will be a minority view among critics, but The Family Filmgoer sees as something to celebrate Murphy's genius for stepping into outrageous ``fat suits'' and other transformative makeup and creating full-blooded characters while hiding inside all that rubber.

As mentioned above, the movie is full of sexual innuendo, including lurid views of Norbit's wife, Rasputia, in a bikini. In fact, all her outfits cover enormous and very clearly outlined breasts -- a nod to ``realism.'' There are nongraphic jokes about wedding night bedroom antics, the size of a little boy's penis, about pimps (played by Eddie Griffin and Katt Williams), prostitutes, condoms and more. There are threats of violence (one involving razor blades and lemon juice) and comical confrontations between thugs and townsfolk. The dialogue includes considerable midrange profanity and sexual language as well as numerous uses of the rhymes-with-witch word. Rasputia drives over a neighbor's dog on purpose. We next see the pooch wearing wheels in place of its back legs. Chasing kids who've taken her hat, she says ``Don't think I won't kill a child.'' Bad taste? What taste? And let us not forget the flatulence jokes.

Norbit grew up a meek and bespectacled orphan in a small town, raised by the kindly restaurant/orphanage owner Mr. Wong (also Murphy). Big, bad Rasputia chose poor Norbit in grade school to be her man and he eventually marries her. Her family of thuggish building contractors won't let him out of their sight. Then one day Norbit's childhood pal, the lovely Kate (Thandie Newton), comes back to town with a fiance (Cuba Gooding Jr.) Norbit doesn't trust and he acquires gumption.

P.S. FOR TEENS: Comic actors who can play multiple roles and carry it off are a rare breed. When your grandparents or parents were young, there was a British actor named Peter Sellers who could do that brilliantly. If you want to see his work, check out ``Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'' (PG, 1964). This film was a devastating spoof of the Cold War and the nuclear arms buildup between the United States and the old Soviet Union, and it gave Sellers a chance to play an array of people while surrounded with a fine cast of other actors.

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``The Messengers'' (PG-13, 1 hr., 30 min.)

Everything about ``The Messengers'' feels derivative -- ghosts of murder victims coming back for revenge or to warn the troubled new family in the haunted house; crows gathering on the roof and the telephone lines; vaguely creepy people appearing out of nowhere; stains on the walls that reappear after they're scrubbed away; slime oozing up through the floorboards, then vanishing. This movie lifts ideas from nearly every creepfest ever made, be it ``The Amityville Horror'' (R, 1979 and R, 2005) and ``The Shining'' (R, 1980) or ``The Grudge'' (PG-13, 2004) and ``The Grudge 2'' (PG-13, 2006). And yet, as directed by Hong Kong-based twin brothers Oxide Pang and Danny Pang, ``The Messengers'' has an artful, unpretentious style and a strong cast that plays it straight and doesn't chew scenery. The film is far from terrifying, but it offers a few nifty shivers and little gore. This dearth of graphic violence will please some teens and disappoint others, but it makes the movie OK fare for most of them. Even so, a few middle-schoolers will not be ready for it. Aside from the spooky stuff mentioned above, there are climactic attacks by a killer brandishing a pitchfork, images of zombie-like ghosts scurrying about, hanging from the ceiling and turning up in other odd places. The crows also swarm and attack. The script contains rare profanity and mild sexual innuendo. There are verbal references to teen drinking and self-mutilation.

Roy (Dylan McDermott) and Denise (Penelope Ann Miller) move with their sad, sullen teen daughter, Jess (Kristen Stewart), and toddler Ben (Evan Turner) to a lonely farmhouse in North Dakota. Jess got into some kind of trouble back in Chicago, and they want a fresh start for the family. Right off the bat, baby Ben, who should be talking, but isn't yet, sees the house's ghostly inhabitants -- he is open to their presence. Then Jess becomes aware of them, but because of past sins, no one believes her. Will the fractured family unit heal in time to face down the evil that lurks? Duh.

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BEYOND THE RATINGS GAME

-- 6 AND OLDER:

``Night at the Museum'' PG (Enjoyable, if under-realized and internally illogical romp (live-action with computer-generated effects) about a shlump (Ben Stiller) hired as the night guard at New York's Natural History Museum; his aged predecessors (Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs) fail to mention that the exhibits -- a T. rex skeleton, Attila the Hun, Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams, having a bully time), miniature Roman legions, Civil War soldiers and cowboys (Owen Wilson in a cameo) -- come alive each night; he must stave off chaos, keep his job, impress his son (Jake Cherry) and woo a museum guide (Carla Gugino). Little kids may jump at the dinosaur chasing Stiller, the Huns grabbing him; toilet humor; rude expressions.)

-- PG-13s AND A PG DOCUMENTARY MORE FOR TEENS:

``Norbit'' (NEW) (Crass, crude, politically incorrect but often very funny farce celebrating Eddie Murphy's ability to bring wildly diverse characters to life from under mountains of makeup; Norbit (Murphy), a bespectacled milquetoast married to the huge, mean Rasputia (also Murphy), finds gumption to stand up to her and her thuggish family after his beautiful childhood friend Kate (Thandi Newton) moves back to town. Much sexual innuendo, including lurid views of Rasputia in a bikini (in all outfits, she has clearly outlined breasts) or the tub; nongraphic jokes refer to: bedroom antics, the size of a little boy's penis, pimps (played by Eddie Griffin and Katt Williams), prostitutes, condoms and more; threats of violence and comical confrontations; midrange profanity (lots of rhymes-with-witch and the S-word), and sexual language; ethnic stereotyping; Rasputia drives over a dog on purpose; we next see the pooch wearing wheels in place of its back legs; chasing kids Rasputia warns, ``Don't think I won't kill a child''; flatulence jokes. Not really for middle-schoolers.)

``The Messengers'' (NEW) (Highly derivative but artfully made, nicely acted, largely nongory ghost thriller about a couple (Dylan McDermott and Penelope Ann Miller) who bring their sad, sullen teen daughter (Kristen Stewart) and non-speaking toddler son (Evan Turner) to a North Dakota farm to start anew after the daughter messed up somehow back in Chicago; soon the little boy and then his sister start to see scary doings in the house, zombie-like ghosts and skittering creatures; only the girl can talk about it, and no one believes her. Absence of graphic violence will please some teens, disappoint others; climactic attacks by a killer brandishing a pitchfork, desiccated, veiny-faced spirits lurking, scurrying, hanging from the ceiling; crows swarm and attack; rare profanity; mild sexual innuendo; verbal references to teen drinking, self-mutilation. Some middle-schoolers may find film unsettling.)

``Constellation'' (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) (Strong cast (Billy Dee Williams, Hill Harper, Zoe Saldana, Lesley Ann Warren) lends depth and watchability to this sentimental, oddly roundabout tale of an extended African-American family gathered in a southern city to bury their favorite Aunt Carmel (Gabrielle Union, in flashbacks); in the prologue she is a young woman in the 1950s, in love with a white soldier (Daniel Bess); they are forced apart and haven't the strength to fight society; 50 years later, Carmel's brother (Williams), an artist, still blames his sister's one-time lover (David Clennon) for her unfulfilled life; other family members hash out their own relationship issues in her benevolent shadow. Strongly (but not graphically) implied that Carmel is raped by white men as punishment for her brief liaison; infidelity theme; profanity; drinking; smoking.)

``God Grew Tired of Us'' PG (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) (Highly moving, though confusingly structured, documentary (narrated by Nicole Kidman) focuses on two extraordinary young men within a small group of Sudanese refugees who settle in the United States; as boys they were among thousands of child refugees who trekked a thousand miles across the desert to escape Sudan's civil war, then spent 10 years in a refugee camp; some were allowed to come here; the film chronicles the immigrants' struggle to adapt and yet keep alive their traditions, working multiple jobs to send money back to their families. Upsetting, largely nongraphic news footage of the war, and of people wounded and starving and of refugees languishing in a camp.)

``Because I Said So'' (Diane Keaton burbles as an incredibly meddlesome single mom with three grown daughters secretly advertises on the Internet to find a mate for her still-single, slightly scattered youngest (Mandy Moore) in an overwrought, overdecorated, painfully contrived comedy; the daughter dallies with the snooty architect Mom chooses (Tom Everett Scott) and a cute musician (Gabriel Macht) not on the list. Numerous oblique but unmistakable references to sexual practices; euphemisms referring to female sex organs; talk of uncircumcised men; a lengthy, though rather prim discussion of orgasms; other cruder sexual language; a little boy innocently names male and female organs and asks to see a woman's; nonexplicit sexual situations; female character who juggles affairs with two men; implied nudity; sounds of sex from a porn Web site; rare profanity; a dog trying to mate with an ottoman; drinking. Too many nongraphic but adult sexual references for middle-schoolers.)

``Epic Movie'' (Occasionally funny, largely laborious spoof of recent fantasy hits such as ``Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' (PG, 2005), ``The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' (PG, 2005), among many; likely to amuse pop-culture and irony-loving high-school and college kids. Four ``orphans'' played by adults (Kal Penn, Adam Campbell, Jayma Mays, Faune A. Chambers) win golden tickets to visit a candy factory; then it's off to a pirate ship and more. Constant crude sexual innuendo, often merging into sexual language; women in bikinis move suggestively; jokes about drugs for erectile dysfunction, about men mating with goats; a dead cat on a plate; a woman falling out of a plane; crazed candy maker yanking out someone's heart; hints he'd like to molest, then kill and cook the ``orphans''; references to gang violence; drinking; toilet humor; snakes; middling profanity. Too lewd for middle-schoolers.)

``Stomp the Yard'' (Oft-corny college saga uplifted by exuberant dancing: a Los Angeles inner-city teen and ace street dancer (Columbus Short), still grieving for a brother killed in a brawl, goes to live with Atlanta relatives, enrolls in a historically black university and works part-time; snobby students look down on him; he enters the frat houses' big ``stepping'' competitions (synchronized dance inspired by African gumboot dancing) and aims to impress a girl (Meagan Good), and overcome roadblocks put up by her provost dad (Allan Louis) and arrogant boyfriend (Darrin Henson). Fatal shooting; middling profanity; racial slurs; implied overnight tryst; suggestive dancing by girls, rapper-style crotch-grabbing by guys; many shots of young women's jeans-clad behinds. Too much swearing, macho posturing for middle-schoolers.)

-- R's:

``Breaking and Entering'' (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) (Gracefully filmed, emotionally layered, socially aware drama by writer/director Anthony Minghella (``The English Patient'' R, 1996), rises above some, but not all, cliches of its genre -- films about progressive, arty Londoners with too much time to brood; Jude Law as an architect who becomes involved with the immigrant mother (Juliette Binoche) of a teen (Rafi Gavron) who helped burglarize his business; Robin Wright Penn as his depressive, still beloved companion; Poppy Rogers as the troubled daughter they worry about. Nudity, including brief female frontal; prostitute character; not-quite explicit but strongly implied sexual situations; some sexual language; infidelity theme; child in physical danger; profanity; ethnic slur. Ideal for college film buffs.)

``Smokin' Aces'' (Cleverly constructed, fresh, frenetic feds-versus-the-Mob caper with dense narrative and dialogue, but a disappointing final payoff. Two FBI agents (Ryan Reynolds and Ray Liotta) lead an operation to save a mob-connected Vegas entertainer (Jeremy Piven) from an array of hit men and women (including Alicia Keys) and bail bondsmen (led by Ben Affleck) so he will turn state's evidence. Point-blank gun mayhem with much spattered blood; a man's bloodied hand with his fingers shot off; flashbacks to a mobster torturing a man hanging naked (a back view); scantily clad, occasionally topless women playing prostitutes; very strong profanity; crude sexual slang; racial and homophobic slurs; cocaine use; drinking. 17 and up.)