Send this one into orbit with 'Pluto Nash'

It's been 19 years since "Coming to America," seven years since the Klumps and almost a month since Eddie Murphy earned an Oscar nomination for his role in "Dreamgirls." So, what is Murphy going to do next? Throw on a 'fro and get back to his outrageous, gross-out comedy roots with his newest flick, "Norbit."\n"Norbit" is the life story of the title character (Eddie Murphy) who was orphaned as baby and taken in by Mr. Wong (Eddie Murphy, again), the proprietor of a Chinese restaurant and orphanage. At the orphanage, Norbit befriends Kate (played when she's older by Thandie Newton) until she is adopted and taken out of Norbit's life. Norbit is then introduced to Rasputia, (Eddie Murphy, yet again) the fattest bully in school who coerces the weak-willed Norbit to marry her. Suddenly, Kate comes back into Norbit's life and he is eager to rekindle their childhood love, much to the dismay of Rasputia.\nThe best parts of this movie are the characters and makeup wizardry. The story is clunky, but Murphy is at the top of his game, acting-wise. The three characters Murphy plays are all brilliant and elicit an emotional connection from the audience. You feel for Norbit, hate Rasputia and are ashamed of liking the racist Mr. Wong, who himself is a racist caricature of Asian Americans. Eddie Murphy deserves more credit for the characters he breathes life into. Also, Eddie Griffin has a small role as a pimp named Pope Sweet Jesus and gets a laugh every time he's on screen.\nThe makeup department outdid itself and deserves as much credit as the actors for the laughs in this movie. Seeing Rasputia at a water park in a two-piece is disturbing, yet the audience couldn't stop laughing. Her thighs and belly are so large you can't see her bikini and it looks like she's walking around naked (all looks of disgust are deflected with a bellowing, "How YOU doin?!").\nDespite the great acting and makeup, the script for this movie is lame. If the writers (including Eddie Murphy and his brother of "Chappelle's Show" fame, Charlie) would have put as much passion and work into the script as the actors put into the acting, this could have been a legitimately good movie. Instead, it is just a disposable popcorn movie; great for a date on a Friday but that's about it.