Lucky for Eddie Murphy he got hold of the rights to this 1963 Jerry Lewis classic before Jim Carrey did. Murphy had a comeback of sorts with his Jeckyll-and-Hyde-derived fable of awkward chemistry professor Sherman Klump (Murphy), who discovers a potion that transforms him into the suave, cocky lady-killer Buddy Love (also Murphy). The big difference between the two versions is that Murphy's Sherman is not only a nerdy intellectual but is also grossly obese, which provides the opportunity for some hilarious digital transformation effects, as well as some gentle satire... of our culture's attitudes toward fat people. As he did in the hit Coming to America, Murphy plays multiple roles, and the scenes at the Klump family dinner table, in which he plays everybody, are brilliantly funny. (Murphy won the National Society of Film Critics' award for best actor of 1996 for these performances.) Lewis based his Buddy Love on the 1960s ideal of cool exemplified by Sinatra and the Rat Pack; Murphy stumbles a bit by playing up the oily phoniness of his latter-day Love a little too soon, but for the most part The Nutty Professor represents a welcome return to form for Eddie Murphy. --Jim Emerson [show more]
It didn't seem to be my so-called "cup of tea" but after being coerced into watching it, it appeared that I was wrong. Not entirely wrong but it certainly wasn't as bad as I imagined.
Eddie Murphy, starring as almost the entire cast of the Klump family, is outstanding, bringing much of the PG-rated parts his revered stand-up show to screen in the different characters. However, Professor Klump and his Mr. Hyde counterpart, Buddy love, are the main attractions, exhibiting very opposite but wholly entertaining facets of comedy.
This is not a film for any particular age group or for any particular person, just an all-round good film.
We will publish your review of The Nutty Professor [1996] on DVD within a few days as long as it meets our guidelines.
None of your personal details will be passed on to any other third party.
This site uses cookies.
More details in our privacy policy
