The Nutty Professor is a 1996 film starring Eddie Murphy. It is a remake
of the 1963 film The Nutty Professor starring Jerry Lewis.
Murphy plays nice university professor Sherman Klump who suffers from severe
obesity. He invents a miracle weight loss potion and,
hoping to win the girl of his dreams, tries it on himself. Social situations demand that he call himself by a different name
while he is using the potion, and his slim self becomes an independent personality. Like the original film's Julius Kelp, Klump's
trim and stylish, but arrogant, alter ego is also named Buddy Love. Murphy plays a total of seven characters in the film,
including Sherman, most of Sherman's family (except for Sherman's nephew, Ernie Klump Jr.) and an over-the-top parody of
Richard Simmons.
The film co-stars Jada Pinkett Smith, John Ales,
James Coburn, Larry Miller and
Dave Chappelle. Singer Montell Jordan has a
cameo role as himself.
Its sequel, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, was released in
2000.
Plot
As the film opens, hamsters are overrunning Wellman College and causing general chaos. It
turns out that these are the school's laboratory hamsters that obese Professor Sherman Klump (Murphy) accidentally released the
night before. The problem contained, Sherman is given an update by his assistant Jason (Ales) about their latest project – an
experimental formula that reconstructs the DNA of an obese person to make weight loss easy. It seems that their fattest hamster,
Shelley, has lost 3 ounces, proving that the serum works. Jason suggests increasing the amount Shelley is fed, but the
ever-kindly Sherman argues against it, saying it could be dangerous.
He then has an unpleasant meeting with Dean Richmond (Miller). The Dean tells him that the incident with the hamsters has cost
the science department most of its funding. Harlan Hartley (Coburn) is the school's last remaining wealthy alumnus and is
planning to award a $10 million grant to the college, and Klump is warned not to alienate him as well.
After class, Sherman meets the lovely Miss Carla Purty (Pinkett), and falls instantly in love with her. Later that night,
Sherman dines with his portly family (most of whom are also played by Murphy), and argues with them about obesity. Sherman is
hurt by the comments his father, Cletus, makes, but Sherman's mother, Anna, tells him that he is "beautiful inside and out".
This inspires Sherman to invite Carla on a date to "The Scream", a local comedy club. A
Rocky-style montage ensues, showing Sherman
trying various methods to lose weight before the big date. However, although the date begins well, it turns into a disaster when
Sherman falls victim to the evening's star entertainer--an insult comic called Reggie Warrington (Chappelle), who humiliates him with cruel jokes about his
weight.
Later that night, alone and depressed in his apartment, Sherman stuffs himself with junk food, dozes off in front of the TV
set, and has a nightmare in which he becomes the fattest man in the world and lays waste to the city with a single fart. When he
wakes, he finally yields to the temptation to try his new serum on himself. It seems to work perfectly: in seconds, he loses
hundreds of pounds and becomes slim and fit. The following day, while still slim, he starts to flirt with Carla, who comes to the lab looking for Sherman. Quickly inventing the name "Buddy Love" for his new
alter-ego, he invites Carla back to The Scream. The serum then begins to wear off, and he
ushers Carla out. Carla later tells Sherman about Buddy, and Sherman encourages her to go out with him. At The Scream, Buddy
turns up very late in a brand new sports car and persuades an angry Carla (who is about to leave) to go back inside. This time,
when Reggie appears, Buddy heckles him mercilessly, fires off a barrage of jokes about his mother, and finally takes the stage himself, throwing the comedian into a
piano.
Buddy returns to Carla, who is delighted with him. He gives a waiter a credit card to pay for the meal. Buddy and Carla then share a kiss.
Immediately after, the serum begins to wear off and Buddy makes a quick exit. Jason happens to be at the bar and notes the card
Buddy is using belongs to Sherman. He follows Buddy into the sports car to confront him, only to learn Sherman's secret when he
discovers him in mid-transformation.
The next morning, Sherman is very late for a class, and his students have all left. The Dean, however, is there, and he
confronts Sherman about the sports car, which Buddy bought on Sherman's faculty
account. The Dean threatens to strangle Sherman if he screws up again and asks him to meet Hartley at a hotel restaurant to describe the weight-loss serum.
Later, in the lab, Jason tells Sherman that he can't control Buddy, whose testosterone
levels keep rising. He warns him not to use the serum again and to focus instead on the research for Hartley. Later, Carla talks to Sherman about her date with Buddy, and Sherman takes the
opportunity to ask Carla to dinner with his family, who promptly embarrass him. His confidence
low, he uses the serum again.
Buddy, who is becoming ever more aggressive, takes Carla out on a second date, this time to the hotel where Sherman was to
meet Hartley. The Dean, looking for Sherman, asks Buddy if he could take Sherman's place, which he does, taking all the credit
for the work. Hartley and the Dean are both impressed.
Buddy then picks up three beautiful woman, and invites Carla to participate in some "group action." She promptly dumps him.
Undaunted, he throws a party at Sherman's house that night, burning all the health food products in Sherman's fridge. Sherman, having transformed
back during the night, wakes in a wrecked apartment surrounded by strange women, with no memory
of the night before. Carla arrives to tell Sherman that she's left Buddy, and sees one of Buddy's women. Thinking Sherman is as
unfaithful as Buddy, she leaves in disgust. Jason then rushes in, telling Sherman to come to the school quickly.
When he arrives, he discovers that Buddy has been given his job and his ticket to the alumni ball. At home, depressed, Sherman
accidentally activates the VCR, where Buddy has left a message taunting Sherman.
This inspires Sherman to take his life back. He and Jason start destroying all the serum samples, but when he sips a diet drink
that Buddy has craftily filled with the serum, he transforms again. Buddy, who has "taken on a life of his own" with a vengeance,
tells Jason that if he drinks 500 mL of the serum, he will have enough cellular stability to be thin forever; thus "killing"
Sherman.
Buddy knocks Jason out and goes to the alumni ball. Jason, regaining consciousness, sees that the testosterone levels in Buddy
are at dangerous levels and rushes off after him. At the ball, Buddy gets up on stage and demostrates the effects of the serum to
the amazed audience (which includes the Dean, Carla, Hartley, and Sherman's parents). Then, as he prepares to drink the second
dose of serum to stay Buddy Love forever, Jason runs in, and tries to stop him. Buddy punches Jason, but Jason hits back.
As Buddy stands poised to return a blow, Sherman starts to "fight" him for control of his body: fat and thin body parts
alternate with increasing speed while Buddy's voice shouts "You can't beat me!" and Sherman's voice replies "Yes I can!".
Eventually, Sherman wins the struggle and tells the awed alumni that what he did was selfish and that he has learned to accept
himself as he is. He leaves, but Carla stops him and confesses that she loves him. Harley then tells the Dean that he's decided
to give Sherman the grant because he's "a brilliant scientist, and a gentleman". Bloopers are
then shown through the first part of the end credits.
Production notes
- This film is number 70 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".
- The film also features a series of scenes with Murphy and comedian Dave Chappelle who
plays insult comic Reggie Warrington. Much of their dialogue was improvised. Murphy was one of Chappelle's biggest comedic
influences.[1]
- The name "Reggie Warrington" is named after Reginald and Warrington Hudlin, brothers and directors of Murphy's previous film
Boomerang.
References
External links
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