The Nutty Professor (1996)

The Nutty Professor is along with Bowfinger, one of Eddie Murphy's last funny comedies. The idea is good, and I enjoyed the comedic elements of the film. Of all the films that Eddie Murphy has starred in, The Nutty Professor is one of his funniest. Sure the film isn't perfect, but there are plenty of good laughs here to entertain the audience. I'm not the biggest Eddie Murphy fan, but I enjoyed this film, and I thought it had some great moments where the film was very well done. The Nutty Professor is a good comedy, and somewhat underrated. However, if you enjoy Eddie Murphy, give this one a shot, The Nutty Professor is one of his last funny roles, and he really does bring on good laughs with his antics in this film. The Nutty Professor has a good cast starring opposite Murphy, and the film boasts another comedic talent, Dave Chappelle. And the acting of Jada Pinkett Smith as Carla was great! The film works well enough to be an entertaining hour and a half and despite the fact that it's not a comedic masterpiece, the film still has plenty of laughs going for it, and is much better than the second. This is one of Eddie Murphy's last good film roles along with Bowfinger afterwards he really started to make unfunny films that just insulted the intelligence and were a waste of time. Luckily looking back at this film, you realize that Eddie Murphy was once very funny and capable at delivering something unique on-screen. Now, he's totally irrelevant and unfunny. The Nutty Professor may not be the best comedy, but it definitely is worth watching and is pretty funny for what it is.

Eddie Murphy does a superb job playing multiple characters in this movie, especially in the lead role of Sherman Klump, a good-hearted obese university teacher, who is tired of people making fun of his weight. Hoping to win the affection of a colleague, Dr. Carla Purty (Jada Pinkett), Sherman will test a miraculous, but risky experimental, weight-loss pharmaceutical formula on himself. However, the results of experiment are not what, he wanted, as a dangerous obnoxious alter ego named 'Buddy Love' is trying to destroy Sherman, once and for all. Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say, as much as I like the original 1963 Jerry Lewis's film of the same name, for its odd sense of humor in the way, it parodies author Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, 'Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'. I just thought, 1996's 'The Nutty Professor' is a little more focus on the keeping the same type of a humor. In my opinion, the original was a little uneven with its jokes. It introduce some short jokes, yet, never expand on it. For the most part, the movie humor was all over the place, ranging from childish somewhat dumb slapstick to too avart-garde to understand. Because of that, many of the jokes, fall flat. The remake at least, kept the humor nearly everything in tone, even if the scenes with the professor's extended family weren't really needed. Because of this, the jokes in the 1996 version were better told. I understood, what the dream sequences, funny music montages, and hilarious outtakes were trying to go for. Not only that, but in a world of awful comedy remakes, 'The Nutty Professor' also stands out as a film to watch when you want a good laugh even if some of the jokes were somewhat offensive, gross and crude. For the most part, the fat jokes and toilet humor kinda do hit the funny bone for me. I'm not the best of shapes, myself, however, I'm willing to take a few jabs about my waistline, as long as the movie has a good message. This movie does. There is some heart to this film. I truly understand, why the likable professor wants to transform. I can't say, the same with Jerry Lewis's clumsy character in the original. All, I got from that movie is the fact that the somewhat annoying Professor wanted to boned his much younger, student; which is creepy. His drive for the change, really lacks depth. Another thing that bugs me, is how generic and tiresome, Jerry's nerd character is, as he used it, in a similar role in 1958's film 'Rock-A-Bye Baby'. Even his Buddy Love character doesn't seem new, as it clearly parodying his once-upon Rat Pack buddy, singer, Dean Martin. Plus, for a sci-fi formula plot that supposed to beef up the main character. Jerry Lewis's body doesn't really look any differ, as Buddy Love. Don't get me wrong, this remake also has its problems with the transforming like how does Sherman's body fat vanishes, yet his skin somehow shrinking to fit in, with his new body type, but at least, his Buddy Love seems like a new guy and the antagonist. This film really explore the conflict within man vs self. It was something that was missing from the first movie. Because of that, Sherman's speech toward the end, honestly does mean something, while the Lewis version kinda doesn't, as moments later, the film contradict those statements, when his girlfriend sneaks a few bottles, before their honeymoon. Because of that, the speech in the first movie toward the end doesn't seem so meaningful. This 1996 remake deserves more credit than it been getting. Some people had been dumping on it, for years. Even original producer like Jerry Lewis, abandoned it by 2009. Regardless, of what Lewis and other critics, thought. In my opinion, it's as good as the original, because of the amazing make-up magic and special visual effects at the time. The supporting cast in the new movie is also a lot better. I found Dave Chappelle's brief cameo as the bully comedian, Reggie Warrington and Larry Miller's character of Dean Richmond, to be just as funny, even if it's a bit mean-spirited. However, Jada Pinkett is a bit weak in the role. She really doesn't stand out at all. Regardless of that, the good hearted emotional music by composer, David Newman makes up for the lack of chemistry between Murphy and Pinkett. No really, give a listen to track 2 of Newman's original instrumental score. You will make you feel something. Overall: While, this movie is a bit raucous and crude, it did create some laughs, heart and poignancy than any Eddie Murphy movie has in quite in a long time. It was a Herculean task, but somehow, director, Tony Shadyac and his crew, succeed at it.

Sherman Klump (Eddie Murphy) is an overweight professor at Wellman College. He's working on a weight lost formula that actually restructures DNA. Dean Richmond (Larry Miller) is not a fan of Klump who has lost him lots of donors. They need to get the last rich alumni Harlan Hartley (James Coburn). New teacher Carla Purty (Jada Pinkett Smith) is a Klump fan. When she accepts a date with him, he tries to lose weight. After getting embarrassed on the date, he decides to take his own formula which turns him into the smooth operator Buddy Love.This is not for anybody who gets offended by fat jokes. There is plenty of that plus loads of fart jokes. It's saved by a very appealing character in Sherman Klump. He's a nice guy. The romance is sweet with Jada playing a sweet girl. It's actually very sad when the comic picks on him. I like the guy but the fat jokes aren't funny to me. This is a nice take on Jekyll & Hyde.

Well, while it doesn't deny the necessity of self-improvement, it has the merit to assess the awareness of our specificity, our difference. And being aware of what we are stimulates the idea of our self-improvement as long as we keep aware of what we are not, and maybe the most important, what we can't and will never be. And the line between the incapability of this admittance and a low self-esteem is unfortunately, extremely thin.And "The Nutty Professor" is a wonderful comedy for its positive and insightful message about self-acceptance through a very sympathetic protagonist, Eddie Murphy as Professor Sherman Klump. Murphy perfectly diluted all his flamboyance and sometimes obnoxious flashiness in a sweet, gentle and likable character whose occupation besides teaching in college is to make DNA experiences on hamsters in order to find some medical solutions against obesity. Yet obesity doesn't seem to be an issue in his own life, not until he meets Carla Purty, his new colleague, played by the eye-pleasing Jada Pinckett Smith. Naturally, he falls in love, and we realize that we just meet Klump at a pivotal moment of his life, obesity became an issue.Tone-wise, Tom Shaydac's film finds the right balance between humor and sweetness. In one of the most hilarious cinematic family dinners, we meet the Klumps, a sight that works as a genetic alibi for Sherman's appearance. Eddie Murphy, who proved his chameleonic talent in such films as "Coming to America" is at the top of his game in "The Nutty Professor" where he's both a sweet and caring mother, a naughty Black mama, a mean-spirited blue-collar father, a superficial brother and Sherman Klump (the other character played by Murphy isn't featured in the scene, but you'd hardly recognize him as an Aerobic coach). The film, that won the Oscar for Best Make-Up, is the greatest credit to Murphy's talent when it comes to portray various characters.But there's more than discussions about weight and some farting contest in that dinner (always hilarious and never vulgar), the scene concludes with a beautiful exchange between Sherman and his mother. She loves him like any other mother, she sees both an inner and a physical beauty and we don't laugh at that. Whether he believed her or not is not the point, we can only sympathize with this good man, who wants this inner beauty to express itself. And when in the next scene, he asks Carla for a date, we understand Mama Klump found the right words to encourage her son to overcome his shyness. Carla is not indifferent to Sherman and accepts the date unaware that it would lead to a disaster because the restaurant stars a stand-up comedian who roasts people in the audience.Maybe I should have mentioned that the film is the remake of a Jerry Lewis' classic, but I don't think it's necessary since I know both stories are different. And I don't even think, the original is better just because it's the first one. All I know is I can more relate to a nerdy scientist who wants to be accepted by society than one who just wants to be a womanizer. Like so many great comedies like "Groundhog Day" or "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", there is a heart in "The Nutty Professor" and Eddie Murphy's so powerful that I could feel the way he felt. When everybody was getting their share of mocking jokes, he knew his turn was coming, and he would have it pretty bad (Dave Chappelle did a great job as the mean-spirited Reggie by the way), so when he tries to go to the toilet but unfortunately finds himself in the spotlight, we know the worst is to come.Murphy is so good in that role that it was impossible for me to laugh at Reggie's jokes; I could feel Sherman's broken heart, the devastation not just from the jokes, but from the people's reactions. The following scene is almost a tear-jerker when Carla tries to console him, he hardly speaks, the man was victim of a bullying that was the culmination of all the violence he tacitly endured. This is the pivotal moment where he decides to test his own researches on himself and become Buddy Love, a sort of Alpha Male who's got every thing a man can wish. Basically, Buddy Love is Eddie Murphy playing Eddie Murphy in the most irritating way, I missed Sherman Klump as soon as he disappeared but I forgive Buddy Love, if only for the magnificent revenge against Reggie, where the sprinkler became the sprinkled.Now, is the personality of Buddy Love irritating? I think it's the perfect representation of the way we indirectly perceive ourselves, since Sherman has low self-esteem, Buddy has exceedingly high self-esteem, it's his strength, his attitude almost embodies the whole 'Macho Man' theme song. Eddie Murphy mocks his own character as if he was aware that sometimes, being over confident can flirt with mean spiritedness, and he's so 'himself' that he manages to make us appreciate Sherman even more and this is the film's greatest message. I –myself- had some issues with my appearance, and used to tell myself that I would be the most confident guy in the world if I had glasses, or if I were a few inches taller, but the meaning of our lives is not to wait for physical criteria to be confident and certainly not to compare ourselves to others, because that's the negation of our own specificity, and our capacity to contribute to the world on our own.The climactic speech is something I could respond to, it's the beautiful coming to realization of a man who didn't value himself enough while he had all the reasons to. It's like Eddie Murphy acknowledging that there is this soft spot he too often hided, because everybody expected him to be the smart-ass streetwise guy.