A message film, lowbrow comedy, and Redd Foxx vehicle all rolled into one, 1976's Norman... Is That You? stars Foxx as a crotchety fellow who has trouble coping with the sexual revolution. After his wife leaves him for his brother, Foxx--altering his familiar persona not a whit--heads out to California to stay with Afro-sheen-enthusiast son Michael Warren. Opening with several minutes shot on film, Norman boldly switches to video as soon as Foxx arrives at Warren's apartment, unintentionally emphasizing its uncanny resemblance to the set of a tacky mid-'70s sitcom. At first, Foxx remains blissfully unaware of his son's alternative lifestyle, ignoring the presence of Warren's extravagantly swishy roommate/lover (Dennis Dugan), whose constant vamping makes The Daily Show's Frank DeCaro look like Tom Hanks in Philadelphia. When Dugan spills the beans to Foxx concerning his son's sexual orientation, Foxx deals with the news as best he can: by talking loudly to himself about his dilemma while wandering around Los Angeles, at one point professing to a frightened old woman his affection for Cesar Romero. But Foxx's attitude toward homosexuality begins to change after he travels with Dugan to a performance by raunchy puppeteer Wayland Flowers and his collection of drag-queen-like dummies. Concluding, as many have, that any sexual orientation capable of producing an artist as sublime as Flowers can't be that bad, Foxx comes to accept both his son and the permissiveness of the '70s.
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