Norman Is That You
by George Schlatter
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VHS Tape Cover Information
Actor: Dennis Dugan, Michael Warren, Pearl Bailey, Redd Foxx, Tamara DobsonDirector: George Schlatter
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Running Time: 91 minutes
Release Date: 1999-01-05
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Publisher: MGM (Warner)
Studio: MGM (Warner)
VHS Movie Reviews of Norman Is That You
Movie Review: Come out, come out, wherever you are...
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm old enough to have seen Norman... Is That You? in first release. When Norman announced that he was so depressed and confused that he joined the Navy, it hit home. You see, the first time I saw the film I was on the USS Oklahoma City, in the Navy and dealing with my own homosexuality. It helped me to accept myself. Later, when I finally worked up the nerve to start coming out, it helped again.
A previous reviewer wrote of how true it was to the experience of coming out in a black family. I'm white, and I can say with some authority that it's true to the experience of coming out regardless of pigmentation.
It's also helpful to the process of coming out: at least in my experience, straight friends and family tend to keep their cool a little better when they're told right after they've watched Redd Foxx lose his... and regain it.
And it is a very funny (ha-ha as opposed to peculiar, though it's that, too) movie, well worth watching regardless of one's sexual orientation.
It's not high art. George Schlatter was mostly a producer and director of TV sitcoms and game shows. Most of the actors were drawn from the worlds of TV and stand-up comedy, not film or theater. As a result, it often seems like a well-done pilot for a sitcom the networks might have considered (in 1976) to be too racey. By today's standards, it's on the tame end of its PG rating. But it manages to be extremely funny without being dirty. It gives a humorous treatment to a serious subject (coming out), without being mean.
I only hope they release it on DVD before my old Beta copy wears out.
Summary of Norman Is That You
Talk about dated: This limp 1976 comedy, based on a flop Broadway play, deals with a pair of middle-aged African-American parents (Redd Foxx and Pearl Bailey), who are aghast to discover that their window-dresser son (Michael Warren) is gay and are ready to disown him for it. Though it's still a viable subject, it's treated here with a smirky sense that homosexuality is some kind of dirty joke. What's interesting is that, years later, the most sympathetic character is the son's stereotypically swishy boyfriend (Dennis Dugan). Shot on video and transferred to film, the movie is most noteworthy for the opportunity to see the late Pearl Bailey (if only in the final 20 minutes) and to watch the late Redd Foxx (in reality a hilariously filthy stand-up) in a sterilized PG setting. Foxx, at the height of his Sanford and Son fame when this was made, has an exquisite sense of timing and mock outrage; he actually puts some bite into the toothless jokes.--Marshall FineComedy VHS Video
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