Contin you know my plan to watch every Eddie Murphy movie in order, I come to Nutty Professor (1996)Plot In A Paragraph: In a depressed state, kind but overweight professor Sherman Klump (Murphy) takes a special chemical that turns him into the slim but obnoxious Buddy Love.I remember Reading about this being made and thinking there was no way this remake with Murphy could be a hit, certainly not one with him wearing a fat suit. I promptly dismissed it, as what would be another Murphy flop. After years in a career slump, I was not alone. Murphy said "I had a bunch of movies that didn't work. People were saying, "Eddie's no good," so I was like, "Not good? Let me show you what I can f***ing do. It seems every five or six years, you have to do something to remind them that they like you."Murphy, is energised for the first time in years. Using this passion, he is seriously back on track with a lot of energy, missing in so much of his work the last couple of years. The movie is a remake of the Jerry Lewis movie, but I'd say it's more inspired by, than an actual remake of the 1963 classic. This version follows the broad outlines of the Lewis film, with one inspired addition, it makes him fat!! Opening the door for a lot more physical comedy.This is Murphy's best performance and movie since Beverly Hills Cop. Every adult member of the Klump family is played by Murphy. He has always been good at this type of thing, and here it really works (even if fart humour is not your thing) Sherman is one of his most likable characters, good-hearted, sympathetic and funny. When Sherman turns into Buddy Love, the character resembles Murphy's own on stage act. There is a lot of Buddy Love in the Eddie Murphy screen persona. Maybe too much. And not enough Sherman Klump. The Nutty Professor shows him back on track.Murphy was nominated a Golden Globe for the fourth time. His first since Beverly Hills Cop (14 years earlier) More importantly, it was a hit at the box office. The Nutty Professor grossed $128 Million at the domestic box office to end 1996 as the 8th highest grossing movie of the year. The first time Murphy had a $100 million grosser and a movie in the top 10 highest grossers of the year in 8 years. The comeback was on.

The Nutty Professor (1996): Dir: Tom Shadyac / Cast: Eddie Murphy, Jada Pinkett, Charles Coburn, Larry Miller, Dave Chappelle: Inventive remake about brilliant ideas and absurd logic. Eddie Murphy stars as professor Sherman Klump who is insecure about his weight. He is surprised when a beautiful intern agrees to a date but after a humiliating experience he tests a potion on himself. This causes him to slim down into the egotistical Buddy Love. Eventually Buddy tries to take over completely even when Sherman wishes to restore his dignity. Grand idea with exquisite makeup by Rick Baker, and a grand-slam climax. There is vulgar jokes involving weight but the emotional core regards how Sherman feels about himself. Directed by Tom Shadyac as a much bigger improvement over the idiotic Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Murphy is brilliant in multiple roles. Sherman is far easier to accept than the dipstick Jerry Lewis portrayed in the comedy that inspired it. Jada Pinkett in fine form as the intern torn between both personalities. Unfortunately supporting roles are standard fare including Charles Coburn as a potential financial doner, and Larry Miller as the greedy dean who contains great comic lines but elevates no further. Dave Chappelle plays a vulgar stage comic whose insults backfire when Murphy takes stage and takes aim. Vulgar comedy with innovation and big laughs. Score: 7 ½ / 10

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.

The first time I saw this movie I was pregnant and was literally weeping from laughter in the theater. I wondered if it was partly hormones that led to this extreme reaction as I watched this movie again 14 years later with that son who had only heard it from the womb."The Nutty Professor" remains quite entertaining. Buddy Love is still outrageously hilarious at times and the Sherman Klump humor can be lots of fun. I knew I'd mellowed out somewhat when I found all the fart jokes a bit tiresome and found myself genuinely moved by Sherman's message of self-acceptance.My now-14-year-old son couldn't get enough of all the manic craziness and begged to immediately watch the sequel on pay-per-view! So I'm letting him...This movie remains amazing for Eddie Murphy's multi-personage performance. (I also enjoyed seeing David Chapelle in an early incarnation.) This may not be for the ages, but it's a super-silly keeper.