The Nutty Professor

Cast: Eddie Murphy, Jada Pinkett, James Coburn, Larry Miller, Dave Chappelle and John Ales.

Director: Tom Shadyac

Release Date: 1996

Running Time: 1hr 36 minutes

Genre: Comedy

Rating: 12

Format: Sky Cinema

Synopsis:

Insecure yet good-hearted Professor Sherman Klump takes a special chemical that turns him into a slim and obnoxious man Buddy Love. 

Fifty-four years ago Jerry Lewis jumped onto our screens in "The Nutty Professor", a story about a nerdy professor who takes a posion that temporarily turns him into an obnoxious ladies man. In 1996, Eddie Murphy took to our screens in this hilarious remake. Professor Sherman Klump invents an magnificent weight-loss solution that temporarily turns him into his obnoxious alter ego Buddy Love. Despite losing 250 pounds, his alter ego and arrogance soon spiral out of control. The storyline is very similar to the one in the smash hit movie "The Mask" starring Jim Carrey. In "The Mask" Stanley Ipkiss wore a green mask that turned him into an hia alter ego. An eccentric and animated clown.

Jerry Lewis reportedly turned down a cameo in the film, due to his personal beliefs expressing dissatisfaction at the amount of fart jokes used. Considering the humour that Lewis used to express in his younger years, it came as a surprise that we would not see the original Nutty Professor make a cameo. The humour used throughout the film is very tongue in cheek and should by no means be taken seriously. The story is funny because of it's ludicrosity. Eddie Murphy not only stars as Sherman Klump but also as Buddy Love, Lance Perkins, Papa Klump, Mama Klump, Grandma Klump and Ernie Klump. Murphy's art of characterisation for each character is absolutely outstanding. A different emotion, a different facial expression is shown in each and every character.

The storyline holds a strong message about not being afraid to be yourself, that beauty is found within and to believe in yourself, anything is possible. Although very different to the original film, the modern twist works well with the characters and the story. Jada Pinkett-Smith stars as Sherman's stunning love interest, Carla Purty. Jada Pinkett-Smith shows a lot of emotion through her eyes as Curly, you can really see the hurt in her eyes when Sherman is being made fun of in the nightclub by the comic. Her eyes really light up when she is with him, a fantastic performance is shown by Pinkett. A lot of work hasn't gone into the film to make it look fantastic visually, however the storyline and the characters certainly make up for it. Highly entertaining and fun.

3.5/5 stars