The Nutty Professor (1996) * * *

 

Directed by:  Tom Shadyac

Starring:  Eddie Murphy, Jada Pinkett Smith, John Ales, Larry Miller, Dave Chappelle, James Coburn

Professor Sherman Klump (Murphy) is a 400-pound man trying so hard to lose weight he invents a potion which will cause transform him into a leaner guy.   The side effects:  His alter ego, Buddy Love (also Murphy) has adrenaline running through the roof and causes havoc for Sherman once the potion wears off and he returns to his obese self.   Sherman is a gentle man who pines for his assistant Carla (Pinkett-Smith), but lacks the confidence to declare his love.   Buddy is a mean egomaniac with a nasty streak.  The two cannot co-exist within the same body, with Sherman and Buddy attempting to permanently squelch the other.  

The Nutty Professor is a remake of the 1963 Jerry Lewis comedy, replacing awkward nerdiness with obesity as the issue the professor is trying to remedy.   Murphy not only plays Sherman and Buddy, but his father, mother, horny grandmother, older brother, and fitness guru Lance Perkins (a dead ringer for Richard Simmons).   In one scene, Sherman brings Carla home to dinner to meet his family and all of the Murphy characters are present in a seamless editing job.   Murphy's comic genius is on full display by imbuing each character with specific personalities.   It is sweet the way they support Sherman, and they aren't just Eddie Murphy behind a bunch of makeup.   

The Nutty Professor leans on occasional gross-out humor and bodily function jokes, including a dream in which a Godzilla-sized Sherman destroys a city with a fart.   What works most about The Nutty Professor is its underlying sweetness and Sherman's likability.   We miss him when the obnoxious Buddy is on screen and that's precisely the point.    Footnote:  There is a scene in which an insult comic (Chappelle) incessantly rags on Sherman and Carla.   Then, Carla later goes with Buddy (not knowing he's really the thinner, more aggressive Sherman) to see the same comic and Buddy beats him up.  If this isn't life imitating art then I don't know what is.