''The Nutty Professor'' is a 1996 American
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
black comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the old ...
starring
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...
. It is a
remake
A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the sam ...
of the
1963 film of the same name, which starred
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...
, which itself was a parody of
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as '' Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...
's 1886 novella ''
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde''. The film co-stars
Jada Pinkett
Jada Koren Pinkett Smith (; née Pinkett; born September 18, 1971) is an American actress and talk show host. She is co-host of the Facebook Watch talk show '' Red Table Talk'', for which she has received a Daytime Emmy Award. ''Time'' named ...
,
James Coburn
James Harrison Coburn III (August 31, 1928 – November 18, 2002) was an American film and television actor who was featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career.AllmoviBi ...
,
Larry Miller,
Dave Chappelle
David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006), which he starred in until quitting in the middle of p ...
, and
John Ales
John Ales (born January 3, 1969) is an American actor best known for appearing in ''Spy Hard'', '' The Nutty Professor'', '' You Wish'', and other films and television series.
Filmography
Film
*''Crime Killer'' (1985) ... Kids
*''Spy Hard'' (1 ...
.
Filming began on 8 May 1995 and concluded on 8 September 1995. The original music score was composed by
David Newman. The film won
Best Makeup at the
69th Academy Awards.
Murphy portrays a university professor,
Sherman Klump
The Nutty Professor (known as Julius F. Kelp in the original film (1963) and as Prof. Sherman Klump in the 1996 remake, and by his alter ego Buddy Love in both films) is a fictional character portrayed by Jerry Lewis in '' The Nutty Professor'' ...
, a brainy and kind-hearted man who is morbidly
obese. A research scientist, academic, and lecturer, Klump develops a miraculous, but experimental, weight-loss pharmaceutical, and hoping to win the affection of the girl of his dreams, tests it upon himself. Just like Julius Kelp from the original film, Klump's vigorous, charismatic, but evil alter ego takes the name "Buddy Love". Murphy plays a total of seven characters in the film, including Sherman and most of Sherman's family, consisting of Sherman's older brother, Sherman's maternal grandmother, and both of Sherman's parents. Sherman's nephew is the only member of the family not to be portrayed by Eddie Murphy.
The film received positive reviews, with critics particularly praising the makeup and Murphy's performance. The film's success spawned a sequel, ''
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps'', released in 2000.
Plot
Sherman Klump, a morbidly obese and kind-hearted professor at Wellman College, creates an experimental formula that reconstructs someone's DNA for weight to be lost easier. Sherman, during a date at a club, called The Scream, with Carla Purty, a chemistry graduate who is a big fan of his work, is made fun of for his weight by insult comic, Reggie Warrington. This influences him to test his serum on himself the next morning, losing 250 pounds within seconds. He initially celebrates the weight loss, but later finds the effects of the serum are only temporary. Sherman adopts a false identity, "Buddy Love", and invites Carla out on a date at The Scream again. Reggie is present again, and Buddy takes revenge for Sherman by heckling him mercilessly, topping it off with a sardonic interpretation of
Minnie Riperton’s “
Lovin’ You” on a piano. Sherman's "Buddy" persona starts to develop an independent personality due to the heightened
testosterone
Testosterone is the primary sex hormone and anabolic steroid in males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of male reproductive tissues such as testes and prostate, as well as promoting secondary sexual characteristi ...
levels of the transformation, gradually changing from his regular good-natured self to perverted and super-confident. This transformation is seen by Sherman's lab assistant, Jason.
Buddy's identity also takes over Sherman's job and all the credit for his work. He meets Dean Richmond and wealthy businessman, Harlan Hartley, the latter planning to donate $10 million to the science department. Buddy shows the serum, which impresses Hartley and Dean Richmond to the point where they invite him to the Alumni Ball the next night. Buddy then cheats on Carla with three women, and Carla dumps him out of disgust. After being fired as a professor, Sherman attempts to stop the alter ego by destroying all of the serum samples, which he does with Jason's help. However, Buddy is hiding a sample of the serum in one of Sherman's diet shake cans, which Sherman drinks, causing him to transform into Buddy again. He then punches Jason, knocking him to the floor.
Jason discovers Buddy's testosterone levels are at a lethally high 60,000% and gets to the ball in the middle of Buddy's demonstration of the serum. Buddy plans to drink the serum to get rid of Sherman, resulting in a fight between the two identities. Sherman eventually transforms into his regular self and admits his misdeeds to the shocked audience, including his parents, Cletus and Anna, and Carla. As he leaves, Carla stops him and asks why he lied; he says he did not believe that she would accept him. Carla forgives Sherman and invites him to dance with her. Jason presents Sherman with a tuxedo that will fit him. Richmond rehires Sherman and Hartley donates the grant to Wellman because he remarks that Sherman is "a brilliant scientist and a gentleman as well". Sherman and Carla continue to dance at the center with Sherman's mother cheering them on.
Cast
*
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...
as
Professor Sherman Klump / Buddy Love
** Murphy also plays Papa Cletus Klump (Sherman's father), Mama Anna Klump (Sherman's mother), Grandma Ida Mae Jenson (Sherman's grandmother, Anna's mother), Ernie Klump Sr. (Sherman's brother) and Lance Perkins, a parody of
Richard Simmons
*
Jada Pinkett
Jada Koren Pinkett Smith (; née Pinkett; born September 18, 1971) is an American actress and talk show host. She is co-host of the Facebook Watch talk show '' Red Table Talk'', for which she has received a Daytime Emmy Award. ''Time'' named ...
as Carla Purty
*
James Coburn
James Harrison Coburn III (August 31, 1928 – November 18, 2002) was an American film and television actor who was featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career.AllmoviBi ...
as Harlan Hartley
*
Larry Miller as Dean Richmond
*
Dave Chappelle
David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006), which he starred in until quitting in the middle of p ...
as Reggie Warrington
** Chappelle reprised his role on Chris Rock's 1997 album ''
Roll with the New''.
*
John Ales
John Ales (born January 3, 1969) is an American actor best known for appearing in ''Spy Hard'', '' The Nutty Professor'', '' You Wish'', and other films and television series.
Filmography
Film
*''Crime Killer'' (1985) ... Kids
*''Spy Hard'' (1 ...
as Jason
*
Jamal Mixon
Jamal Mixon (born June 17, 1983) is an American comedy actor. He is best known for his role as Ernie Klump Jr. in the film '' The Nutty Professor'', and its sequel, '' Nutty Professor II: The Klumps''. He is the younger brother of actor Jerod ...
as Ernie Klump Jr., Sherman's nephew. Ernie Jr. is the only member of the Klump family not to be portrayed by Eddie Murphy.
*
Montell Jordan as Montell
*
Ned Luke
Ned Luke (born October 4, 1958) is an American actor. He is known for playing Michael De Santa in the 2013 video game ''Grand Theft Auto V''. Luke also voiced Raffles in the animated movie ''Rover Dangerfield''. He has appeared in 29 movies and ...
as a construction worker
Production
Producer
Brian Grazer pursued the idea of remaking ''The Nutty Professor'' with a black lead after it was suggested to him by music producer
Russell Simmons
Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. Simmons ...
. Murphy and Grazer had hoped
John Landis
John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American comedy and fantasy filmmaker and actor. He is best known for the comedy films that he has directed – such as ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' (1977), ''National Lampoon's Animal House'' (1978 ...
would direct, having previously worked successfully with Murphy.
Ultimately
Tom Shadyac, director of ''
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective'', joined the project. ''The Nutty Professor'' was the first Tom Shadyac film to feature
outtakes over the closing credits.
Murphy, Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield worked together on the screenplay. The film is not a strict remake of the Jerry Lewis film; Murphy said, "we stripped down the story to its bare bones and built it up to this whole different thing", adding elements from the story of
Jekyll and Hyde as well as
Cyrano de Bergerac.
The film has a series of scenes with Murphy and comedian
Dave Chappelle
David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006), which he starred in until quitting in the middle of p ...
who plays
insult comic Reggie Warrington. Much of their dialogue was improvised. Murphy was one of Chappelle's biggest comedic influences. Reggie Warrington is named after
Reginald and
Warrington Hudlin, brothers, and directors of one of Murphy's previous films, ''
Boomerang''.
Reginald Hudlin was stunned to see the obnoxious character was named after him and his brother, and to see the character violently stuffed into a piano.
The film was made with the help of Jerry Lewis. He was an executive producer for both this film and the 2000 sequel ''The Klumps''. In 2009 he expressed regret for allowing the remakes saying, "I have such respect for Eddie, but I should not have done it. What I did was perfect the first time around and all you're going to do is diminish that perfection by letting someone else do it."
Rick Baker created the fat suits for Murphy. They were made from
urethane foam and a spandex suit, and filled with pockets of liquid to make it jiggle believably. It took three hours to apply the makeup each day. Baker praised Murphy saying "He really makes the stuff come to life, and he never complains. When we did ''The Nutty Professor''
.. he spent 80-odd days in the makeup chair. As much as I love makeup, even I would have been complaining by the end, but Eddie didn't."
Music
Reception
Box office
''The Nutty Professor'' was a box office success, opening with $25,411,725 and reaching a domestic sum of $128,814,019, and $145,147,000 internationally, for a total of $273,961,019 worldwide.
Critical response
''The Nutty Professor'' has received generally positive reviews from critics.
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
gave the film a score of 64% based on reviews from 55 critics, with an average rating of 5.90/10. The site's consensus states: "''The Nutty Professor'' falls back on juvenile humor eagerly and often, but Eddie Murphy's consistently funny work in dual roles means more for audiences to love."
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
gave the film a score of 62 out of 100, based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film a grade A− on scale of A to F.
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...
'' gave the film 3 stars out of 4, calling it "a movie that's like a thumb to the nose for everyone who said
urphy hadlost it. He's very good. And the movie succeeds in two different ways: it's sweet and good-hearted, and then again it's raucous slapstick and bathroom humor. I liked both parts."
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for '' Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...
of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...
'' gave the film a B+, writing "You can feel Murphy rediscovering his joy as a performer. He rediscovers it, too, as Sherman Klump, a fellow who, much like Murphy, is on the bottom rung, desperate to reinvent himself, and — at long last — does."
Peter Travers of
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
gave the film a positive review, saying "Eddie Murphy is funny again. Sadly, he lacks the guts to follow through on the cathartic self-satire that gives the film its distinction." Travers praised the amazing fat makeup by Rick Baker, but criticizes the easy fat jokes, and concludes "Only when Murphy stops skewering the compulsive overeater in his nutty professor and targets the sexist pig does the film hit home."
Accolades
*
69th Academy Awards
**
Best Makeup (Won)
*
54th Golden Globe Awards
**
Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy - Eddie Murphy (Nominated)
Sequel
A sequel, ''
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps'' was released on July 28, 2000.
See also
*
Eddie Murphy filmography
*
''Dr. Dolittle''
*
''The Nutty Professor'' (film series)
*''
Flubber'', a remake of ''The Absent-minded Professor'' and starring Robin Williams
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nutty Professor
1996 films
1996 romantic comedy films
1990s science fiction comedy films
1990s screwball comedy films
African-American films
African-American comedy films
Remakes of American films
American science fiction comedy films
American romantic comedy films
American screwball comedy films
BAFTA winners (films)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde films
1990s English-language films
Films about educators
Films about scientists
Films directed by Tom Shadyac
Films produced by Brian Grazer
Films set in California
Films set in Los Angeles
Films set in universities and colleges
Films that won the Academy Award for Best Makeup
Imagine Entertainment films
The Nutty Professor
Universal Pictures films
Films scored by David Newman
Films with screenplays by Steve Oedekerk
Films with screenplays by Tom Shadyac
Films with screenplays by Barry W. Blaustein
Films with screenplays by David Sheffield
1990s American films