The Nutty Professor (1996 film)

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The Nutty Professor
The poster for The Nutty Professor (1996)
Directed by	Tom Shadyac
Produced by	Karen Kehela Jerry Lewis Mark Lipsky Russell Simmons Brian Grazer
Written by	David Sheffield Barry W. Blaustein Tom Shadyac Steve Oedekerk
Starring	Eddie Murphy Jada Pinkett James Coburn Larry Miller Dave Chappelle
Music by	David Newman
Cinematography	Julio Macat
Editing by	Don Zimmerman
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	June 28, 1996
Running time	96 min
Country	USA
Language	English
Followed by	Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
IMDb profile

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, "Hercules" Klump) and an over-the-top parody of Richard Simmons.

The film also features a series of scenes with Murphy and comedian Dave Chappelle (who plays insult comic Reggie Warrington). Murphy is often considered the greatest black stand-up comedian of the 1980s and Chappelle is considered by many to deserve the same title during the 2000s.

The film co-stars Jada Pinkett, John Ales, and Larry Miller. Jamal Mixon, James Coburn, and Montell Jordan have cameo roles.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

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 student Jason (Ales) about the new formula they are working on to help people lose weight. 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 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 Sherman with cruel jokes about his weight.

At this point, Sherman 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.

Eddie Murphy as Prof. Sherman, one of the seven characters he played in the film.

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 embarass 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 he has figured out how to take enough serum (in two doses) to erase Sherman forever.

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, thus "killing" Sherman 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 Murphy shouts "You can't beat me!" in Buddy's voice and replies "Yes I can!" in Sherman's. 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.