Wuchak
Released in 1996 and directed by Tom Shadyac, "The Nutty Professor" is a dramedy starring Eddie Murphy as grossly overweight yet good-hearted professor Sherman Klump. In his experiments he develops a potion that turns him into the slim, charismatic Buddy Love who's also, unfortunately obnoxious. While Buddy helps Sherman take down his nemeses (Dave Chappelle), he also messes up his budding relationship with Carla (Jada Pinkett Smith). Larry Miller and James Coburn are also on hand. Murphy actually has multiple roles, playing the Richard Simmons-like Lance Perkins, as well as Sherman's mother, father, grandmother and brother in the dinner sequences. While I found the Lance Perkins scenes amusing, the dinner scenes largely fall flat, but they do showcase Murphy's talents. I also didn't care for the flatulence jokes, but I was able to overlook them – and crude jokes in general – and laughed at the many genuinely amusing parts. The movie works because Murphy expertly makes Sherman a sympathetic character. The scene where he shyly asks Carla out is genius; and the scene where their date is destroyed by the standup comic (Chappelle) is honestly saddening. It may not be as good as "Coming to America" (1988), but it's better than "Trading Places" (1983). The film runs 95 minutes and was shot in the Los Angeles area. GRADE: B+
david-sarkies
This is a typical Eddie movie. Typical in that he plays seven characters, six of them appearing in the same scene. Basically he plays his main character, the Professor, Buddy Love (the only character without heaps of makeup), his mother, father, brother, and grandmother. The skill at which this is done is shown in the two scenes when they are all sitting around a table arguing. I doubt this is because Murphy is cheap but rather because he wants to do it. The other thing that is impressive is the skill that goes into the makeup to disguise Murphy.The Nutty Professor is about a professor, Sherman Klumpp, who is incredibly fat. He is very conscious about his size, and after being torn to shreds by a comedian when he is out on a date with an attractive colleague, he decides to imbue a formula that he has been developing. Sure enough he turns into a handsome, slender, man who calls himself Buddy Love.Basically this movie has a number of themes and is based upon Dr Jeckal and Mr Hyde. I have not had the pleasure of reading the book, so I do not know the themes of the original (I think it has something to do with the beast that is within man), but here the roles are reversed. The beast is Buddy Love while the Dr is Sherman Klumpp. Klumpp may not be attractive, but he is a nice, kind hearted man while Buddy Love is a sexual tyrant who couldn't care less about anybody else. In fact, the more he becomes Buddy Love, the worse he gets.I guess the theme is be content with yourself. Even though Klumpp is hideously fat and his family are incredibly filthy, Dr Purty, the woman that Klumpp likes, thinks that he is okay. She not only went out on a date with him, but also tolerated his family. Another theme is that good looks doesn't always mean a good heart. Buddy Love is a womaniser who couldn't care less about what others think. He may be a fast talker, but that does not work on those who have come close to him, like Miss Purty.This is an Eddie Murphy film, and as such I like it a lot. It is a movie that one can watch while turning off ones' brain. Okay, there is a Jeckle and Hyde theme running through, but it isn't as serious as other rumours that I have seen. This is simply fun movie.
John Panagopoulos
Even though a vast majority of the human population (present company included) does not possess, shall we say, a Greco-Roman physique, we nevertheless often belittle and disregard the overweight as somehow inferior. In the movies, this hypocritical bias is even more extreme. If an overweight person is (seldom) portrayed in a movie (whether as a star or in a supporting role), he/she will be either slow-witted, ill-tempered, clumsy, lazy, or some combination of all four. Most often, the overweight person will be there for one-dimensional comic relief. Eddie Murphy's character Sherman Klump in "The Nutty Professor" (hereafter "Nutty") goes a long way to correct most, if not all, of the overweight movie stereotypes, and against those hostile odds present an admirable human being indeed.Actually, Sherman in "Nutty" is mainly an inimitable character with many positive qualities. He is a brilliant, mostly well-respected biologist capable of revolutionary discoveries. Sherman is cultured, polite, dignified, charismatic and gracious, even under the most trying circumstances. He lives in a respectable apartment. He has a loving, if outspoken, family. Actually, apart from his obesity (and the inevitable maladroitness that comes with it), Sherman's only real shortcoming is his shyness and lack of self-assertion, especially around women. Even so, when Sherman meets beautiful but demure Wellman College colleague Carla Purdy (Jada Pinkett-Smith), her demure demeanor somehow gives him the courage to ask her out on a date. Sherman's life seems complete. However, when Sherman and Carla attend a comedy show, and Sherman endures a withering (but funny) barrage of fat jokes by kamikaze comedian Reggie (Dave Chappelle), the hurt and humiliation compel Sherman into a fateful decision.Never one to whine about his lot, Sherman determinedly (and hilariously) has tried every conceivable regimen (diet, exercise, acupuncture) to lose the pounds. Eventually, he begins to make progress, but not quickly enough. However, the weight-reduction serum Sherman has been distilling and testing on hamsters will accelerate the process. So after the comedy club debacle, Sherman impulsively swigs some of the serum, which astoundingly transforms him into the svelte, dynamic Buddy Love (Eddie in "real life", without the padding).Trouble is, Sherman/Buddy may be more slender, but the serum somehow boosts his testosterone levels alarmingly so that the handsome stud also becomes insufferable, loud, and embarrassing. These qualities simultaneously attract and repel Carla and the audience. Buddy's abrasive manner isn't the only problem. It seems that the serum has only a temporary effect and tends to wear off at inopportune moments, such as when Buddy's transformation back to portly Sherman interrupts his date with Carla and eventually gets him wedged inside a Viper sports car. And so it progresses. With each Sherman/Buddy change and reversion, the audience slowly learns that, counter to what Sherman initially believes, fewer and fewer people prefer Buddy. In fact, the subconscious impermanence of the serum indicates, to me anyway, that Sherman really, and correctly, prefers himself to Buddy.However, alter ego Buddy soon shows his selfish monstrousness. With his devious talk, his promiscuity, and his plotting, Buddy causes Sherman to lose just about everything good in his life - job, home, a social life. Worst of all, Sherman will lose his very identity if Buddy manages to take two timed gulps of his formula to remain Buddy forever. Like Jekyll fighting Hyde, Sherman literally has to get his life back. At an ornate gala where a pharmaceutical manufacturer Harlan Hartley (James Coburn) is expected to fund Sherman's college research, the fight does occur. After a titanic struggle, Sherman reclaims his body. Again, in a dignified heartfelt speech Sherman apologizes for the calamities, hurt, and chaos he has caused as Buddy and finally learns that you have to love and be comfortable with yourself. This candor impresses Harlan enough to make the grant, and charms Carla enough to accept a dance with Sherman.Funny thing about the fat jokes, comments, and slapstick throughout the movie - we laugh at them, but not at the person who endures them. Whether getting stuck in a chair or car, or erasing a blackboard with his belly, or getting chewed out by a venal, insulting, weaselly dean (Larry Miller) or struggling to walk up stairs or exercise, Sherman preserves his dignity and likability. We even wince a little, because such a nice, accomplished person should not have to put up with such misadventures. Through the laughter, we urge Sherman to find the courage, self-assertion, and self-love to get the happiness he deserves. Even his seemingly uncouth and raunchy family (most members played by the versatile Murphy himself) point him in that direction; they may be fat and flatulent and undisciplined, but they also love and accept themselves exactly as they are. In a distorted way, even Sherman's alter ego Buddy tries to urge Sherman forward. "No matter what, you got to strut!" And so Sherman ultimately does, because at heart, he was always a scholar and a gentleman.
