Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Nutty Professor II: The Klumps | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster |
|
| Directed by | Peter Segal |
| Produced by | James D. Brubaker Brian Grazer Karen Kehela Jerry Lewis Eddie Murphy Tom Shadyac |
| Written by | Jerry Lewis (characters) Steve Oedekerk Barry W. Blaustein David Sheffield Paul Weitz Chris Weitz |
| Starring | Eddie Murphy Janet Jackson Larry Miller John Ales Richard Gant Anna Maria Horsford |
| Cinematography | Dean Semler |
| Editing by | William Kerr |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 28, 2000 |
| Running time | 106 minutes (109 in director's cut) |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | The Nutty Professor |
| IMDb profile | |
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps is a 2000 film, the sequel to the 1996 remake of the 1963 film The Nutty Professor. The film stars Eddie Murphy and Janet Jackson. Eddie Murphy plays not only the inept but brilliant scientist, Sherman Klump, as in the first film, but also (wearing different, but equally elaborate makeup) most of Sherman's family as well. Various subplots involving his family occupy a substantial part of the film.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
As the film opens, Sherman is working on a new miracle formula—this time, the fountain of youth. He is also preparing to marry a fellow scientist, Denise Gaines (Jackson). Unfortunately, he has started suffering from personality lapses that are threatening to alienate his bride-to-be: against his will, he acts like the obnoxious, hypersexed Buddy Love of the first film. After a particularly unpleasant incident, Sherman goes to his lab to analyze his DNA and finds an abnormal gene which is of Buddy Love's DNA, he then decides that by using Denise's gene isolation research, he can isolate the gene and permanently extract Buddy Love's DNA from his own, although his assistant Jason tells him that it is extremely dangerous and doing so can do some serious damage to his body. But Sherman ignores Jason's advice and goes to his lab to extract the gene out of his body.
The orphaned DNA, a glowing blob of jelly, combines with a hair from a basset hound and grows instantaneously into an adult man, Buddy Love—now a fully autonomous being. Thanks to his doggy heritage, however, this Buddy Love has a tendency to chase cats and cars. Sherman, meanwhile, has inflicted so much genetic damage on himself by removing Buddy that his brain cells begin dying at an exponential rate.
Buddy steals some of Sherman's youth formula, planning to sell it to the highest bidder, then adds a household chemical to the remainder of the mixture. When Sherman administers the adulterated potion to a hamster in front of a large audience, the hamster grows to enormous size and performs an unnatural act (offscreen) on the Dean (Miller), who is trying to hide under a fur coat. After the fiasco, the deeply traumatised Dean tells Sherman: You're FAT... and DUMB... and FIRED.
This, however, is the least of Sherman's problems; his brain damage is now reaching a critical level. With the help of his loyal lab assistant, Jason, he devises a strategy to restore his mind. He plans to reintegrate Buddy into his DNA by reverting him back to the jelly-like matter he used to be, then sucking him up through a straw.
Sherman concocts a new, stronger youth formula, gets a tennis ball, and heads to an office where Buddy is pitching the youth formula he stole. When Sherman arrives, he throws the tennis ball, and Buddy's dog genes compel him to give chase. Sherman has coated the ball with his new, super potent youth formula, and when Buddy catches the ball, he turns into a toddler. He runs off, then melts into a gelatinous blob that continues fleeing until it dissipates on the edge of a public fountain.
Sherman, his mind all but gone, sadly tells Denise, whom he no longer recognises, that he's no smart, never, no more. Denise starts crying, and one of her tears lands on the dried blob, causing it to trickle into the fountain. As Denise & his parents begin to usher him away, Sherman turns and mumbles something about "pretty water". Everyone sees the fountain's water glowing a bright neon blue. Denise realizes that Buddy's DNA is still alive in the water. She commands Sherman to drink, and he rapidly regains his mental faculties. In the last scene, Sherman and Denise are wed.
As in the first film, bloopers accompany the closing credits.
[edit] Cast
- Eddie Murphy as Professor Sherman Klump/Buddy Love/Cletus 'Papa' Klump/Young Cletus Klump/Anna Pearl 'Mama' Jensen Klump/Ida Mae 'Granny' Jensen/Ernie Klump, Sr./Lance Perkins
- Janet Jackson as Professor Denise Gaines
- Larry Miller as Dean Richmond
- John Ales as Jason
- Richard Gant as Mr. Gaines
- Anna Maria Horsford as Mrs. Gaines
- Melinda McGraw as Leanne Guilford
[edit] Reception
The film grossed over $42.5 million in its opening weekend and went on to a total gross of over $123.3 million. It garnered an additional $43 million in foreign markets.[1] Although audiences seemed to like it, The Klumps was widely panned by critics. Adjectives such as "obnoxious", "lowbrow", "bloated", and "unfunny" crop up frequently in reviews for this film, and Salon.com, which gave the movie one of its few positive notices, offers the rather faint praise "cheerfully vulgar."[1] The New Yorker's Anthony Lane is particularly severe; in addition to hating the film on general principles, he dismisses Murphy's playing of multiple characters as "minstrelling", and charges the actor with "at once feeding us what we like and despising us for swallowing it."[2] Most critics, however, mix a generally negative assessment of the movie with at least a nod towards Murphy's versatility and comic talent.
[edit] Footnotes
1. Nutty Professor II: the Klumps at *RottenTomatoes.com
2. Lane, Anthony. The New Yorker, August 7, 2000.
