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Duh. It's the fat suits.

Kim Hollis: What is the difference between something like Norbit and another film like Meet Dave that has consumers saying, "Ooh, I'll see this" versus "Oh, hell no."? Why is there such an inconsistency in Eddie Murphy projects?

Max Braden: The main difference I saw was in advertising. Norbit ads were everywhere before it came out. I only saw one trailer for Meet Dave, and it was in theaters.

Tim Briody: That's "Academy Award nominee Norbit" to you people.

David Mumpower: Kim, I think that's a brilliant question and if you have an answer, you should immediately be hired as Murphy's agent. What separates Daddy Day Care from Holy Man? I have no idea. Norbit has no business being more successful than Bowfinger yet it earned $30 million more anyway. We're sending him such a mixed message about his projects.

Scott Lumley: I actually cut Edie Murphy a lot of slack. You have to admit he takes a lot of chances (not always smart ones, mind you) with his projects and he's very capable of turning in some interesting and sympathetic characters. I think he's a bit hamstrung by the fact that he wants to make family friendly comedy and the fact that he was caught soliciting transvestite prostitutes. Eddie really needs to just find the right script and cut loose a little more and I think he's gonna be fine. (Although after Meet Dave and Pluto Nash, he's seriously destroying his credibility.)





Daron Aldridge: Is this bomb a result of backlash for knocking up a Spice Girl and then denying paternity? Or maybe it didn't appeal to anyone at all as the advertising made it very difficult to determine who the target audience truly was. There wasn't anything in Meet Dave for the fans of fart, obesity, and racial stereotype jokes who rushed to see Norbit.

Sean Collier: High on the lists of explanations for the failure of Meet Dave is a bewilderingly inept marketing campaign. The vast majority of posters and theater displays for Meet Dave contained nothing whatsoever about the film, just a big Eddie Murphy head over the title of the film. Add to that the fact that Murphy didn't even bother to promote the film himself and you've got a total marketing failure.

Shane Jenkins: All I know is, I'm pretty sure there is this pent-up demand to see Murphy back in R-rating territory. Why hide that talent for profanity under a bushel? If he makes the rumored R-rated Beverly Hills Cop sequel, I believe it's going to be huge. Next summer's NowhereLand, though? Yawn.

Kim Hollis: I wonder if projects like Meet Dave aren't what has inspired Murphy to retire from acting once he's finished with Beverly Hills Cop IV. He seems really dissatisfied with the state of his career, and probably should be frustrated to some degree. He's been on the verge of being an Academy Award winner, but now he's just back to Pluto Nash-y garbage. I think we know he's not completely limited as a performer because he's shown flashes of brilliance in stuff like Bowfinger. He just seems to limit himself to bad career choices and the cumulative effect is that bad feelings from Norbit carry over.

Reagen Sulewski: That move to PG territory with Doctor Dolittle has to feel like a bit of a Faustian bargain now. "We'll extend your career by ten years, but.... mwhahahahahahaha!"

Pete Kilmer: I think Norbit appealed to a completely different Eddie Murphy audience than Meet Dave did. It was also a much more accessible story than Meet Dave. Eddie has a huge range as we saw in Dreamgirls and the Nutty Professor movies. Look again at the scene in the club where Professor Klump is getting attacked by the comedian - that was damned good. Eddie needs to stop taking the paychecks and start making stuff that will challenge him.

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