The Nutty Professor 2: Facing The Fear

Now it’s time to wrap up “The Nutty Professor” movies by talking about the 2008 movie, “The Nutty Professor 2: Facing the Fear.” Never heard of it? Well neither did I until rather recently. First off, I would just like to point out that there seems to be confusion over the title to this movie. The movie is simply titled “The Nutty Professor,” like the original Jerry Lewis movie from 1963. Turns out that “The Nutty Professor 2: Facing the Fear” was simply the working title. It is still listed under that title when you look under the IMDB. Gino Sassani said, “Whatever the title, you should know that this isn’t your father’s Nutty Professor.” This version is a CG animated flick, but don’t expect the movie to be on the same level of quality as Shrek or Pixar. The budget is considerably lower, and you can clearly see that in the final product when you think, “This is looks like something made out of the SIMS game.”

Jerry Lewis returns to his iconic role of Julius Kelp, the intelligent but often clumsy professor who made a formula that could bring out a person’s inner strength. The result was like a spoof on the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde theme. This time the Hyde character was a smooth sophisticated opposite of the ordinarily awkward Professor Kelp. Of course, like Mr. Hyde, the alter-ego caused a whole lot of trouble. It’s many years later, and we are introduced to Harold Kelp, the grandson of Professor Kelp. Harold is just as socially awkward and shares the brilliant mind of his famous grandfather. His inventions, however, have a tendency to fall just short of making the finish, and as the film starts the neighbors, one of them voiced by Jerry Lewis’ daughter, Danielle Lewis, have made an angry mob, complete with a torch, to do something about his dangerous inventions. Just as they are about to attack, Harold gets an acceptance letter from Cerebrum University, where his grandfather is the head of the science department. Glad that he will be moving away, the mob cheers him to his new school…and home, far away from them. At the school, Harold finds it hard to fit in, until he discovers his grandfather’s formula and sets free his own Mr. Hyde, in the form of Jack. Harold must fight with his other half to finally learn the secret to facing his own self-confidence issues, and going up against his own fear…literally.

The film will likely be loved to the younger audiences on one level or another, but it will fall quite flat for anyone expecting to be taken back to 1963 and the original film experience. Sassani admitted, “This film is so loaded with a lot predictable contrivances that it just won’t wear well for the adults. The final confrontation is completely silly and makes little to no sense. It’s a video game kind of battle that might have been better fit for an old Atari 2600.” Drake Bell, who you might remember from that Nickelodeon sitcom “Drake and Josh,” voiced Harold Kelp/Jack. He’s fine, but there isn’t anything energetic in his portrayal to make the character in any way interesting. Jerry Lewis does link the two ideas together by providing the voice of Professor Kelp, but it wasn’t really his voice that made him so successful. Lewis was more of a physical comic. In this CG flick a delivered character just can’t mimic the antics that made Lewis so funny. Sassani said, “Even the distinctive qualities of his voice are gone, covered by decades of age on the actor. On its own this is a fair to mediocre piece of child entertainment.” If you compare it to the original, it is something significantly less.

Here’s the final verdict from Sassani, “It’s been a long while since I saw the original film. I remember it did contain plenty of laughs, however. These laughs are really missing everywhere in this CG creation. Let’s not even talk about the fatty Eddie Murphy films that might have ruined that franchise forever.” Here we return to the original ideas, if only to serve an oversimplified, face your fears, moral. What does it bring to the franchise? Absolutely nothing! I would not recommend this movie at all because it is definitely below average. But I don’t think it’s like an atrocious movie that I wish I didn’t see, just your basic bad sequel.

Thank you for joining in on “The Nutty Professor Month.” I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have. Stay tuned for what next month will have in store. I’ll see you then.

Nutty Professor II: The Klumps

Today we are going to look at the sequel to the Eddie Murphy remake of “The Nutty Professor,” “The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps,” released in 2000. Roger Ebert started his review with this speculation:

My guess is, most of the reviews of "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps" will deliver perfunctory praise to the makeup and move on quickly to the comedy. But we're not talking garden-variety "makeup" here. We're talking about a rather astonishing creative collaboration between Eddie Murphy and makeup artist Rick Baker, with considerable help from director Peter Segal and cinematographer Dean Semler, to populate the movie with eight different characters, all played by Murphy, all convincing, each with its own personality. This is not just a stunt. It is some kind of brilliance.

That does appear in a comedy of determined vulgarity. Some of the long sessions which last five hours in makeup do put at the service of scenes which has giant hamsters breeding and farts that are flammable. The story wanders, but this movie is frequently very funny and nowhere near less than amazing, as long as you consider the work and imagination that went into Murphy’s creation of the Klump family (Sherman, Granny, Mama, Papa, Papa’s younger self and Ernie) and two other characters, Lance Perkins and the evil alter ego Buddy Love.

Murphy has a mysterious gift for imitation, for creating new characters through the talent of improvisation. We, as an audience, first saw this when he was on “Saturday Night Live,” obviously. Ebert mentioned, “In Steve Martin's underappreciated "Bowfinger" (1999), he plays two characters more or less without help from makeup: the movie superstar Kit Ramsey, who looks a lot like Murphy, and a doofus named Jiff, who looks a lot like Kit and is hired to play his double. This isn't simply a double role. Kit and Jiff are two different people, and Jiff is actually the funnier and more involving one; he was so abashed when he found out they wanted to put him in a movie that we couldn't help liking him.”

The entire Klump family that is played entirely by Murphy in this sequel are much broader characters, and yet Professor Sherman Klump, the family protagonist, also has that pull of sweetness: He is likable, vulnerable and naïve, and we can understand why his research assistant Denise, played by Michael Jackson’s sister, Janet Jackson (another singer), might want to marry him. We understand him even better when he hires a Mexican band to stand under her window while he sings to her, although that romantic scene is interrupted when Buddy Love takes control of him.

Ebert said it best when he stated, “Buddy Love is essentially Tourette's syndrome personified.” Buddy appears without saying again, taking over Sherman’s personality, ejecting insulting comments and embarrassing Sherman in public. Ebert mentioned, “His nuisance value multiplies when Sherman tries a risky genetic split, externalizing Buddy but causing his own intelligence to start shrinking.” One of the funniest twists in this movie is the way the tables get turned on Buddy. A strand of his DNA gets crossed with the genetic code of a dog, forcing Buddy to show instinctual behaviors of a dog at every single inconvenient moment. You could say that this is somewhat wonderful when Sherman can distract his enemy by forcing him to play fetch.

I believe Ebert is right when he said, “Animal jokes have been obligatory in raunchy comedies since "There's Something About Mary," and "Nutty II" builds to some kind of a crescendo as Dean Richmond (Larry Miller), Sherman's superior at the university, is assaulted by a giant hamster. How this happens and why is immaterial; what is important is the way it leads up to the line, "Do you think he'll call?" Eddie Murphy has been a star since 1981, a movie star since "48 Hrs." He started strong but has made more than his share of bad movies ("Vampire In Brooklyn" was perhaps the low point). In "Bowfinger" and "Nutty II," he seems to be in a new flowering of his career.” Murphy seems to be home with his comedy, willing to disappear into his characters, ready to find laughs with behavior and personality instead of forcing them with punch lines. Not only does he play eight different characters here, but he makes them different and (within the broad requirements of the story) believable.

Sherman obviously is the main character, a research professor who is brilliant, innocent and obese. We like him and feel for him. Janet Jackson is warm and supportive as his girlfriend, and they have some touching scenes together (Ebert mentioned, “Borrowed from "Charly")” when his intelligence starts to decline and his genius to fade. In a movie so hoarse, so scatological, so optimistically offensive, it is a little surprising to find yourself actually caring for a character who is made mostly out of Latex makeup, but there you have it.

Overall, I think this is a funny sequel, and I don’t hate it like everyone else. If you liked the first movie, then definitely check out the sequel because it will make you laugh, and most importantly, feel and route for Sherman. Hold on to your seats because Friday I will wrap up the “Ocean’s Trilogy” with the final installment for this month.

The Nutty Professor (1996)

Well, now it’s time to talk about the 1996 remake, “The Nutty Professor.” Roger Ebert started his review out by saying, “Eddie Murphy's talent for comedy has been in eclipse during these lean recent years of flops such as “A Vampire In Brooklyn.” But in “The Nutty Professor” he's back with exuberance and energy, in a movie that's like a thumb to the nose for everyone who said he'd lost 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.”

The movie is based off of Jerry Lewis’s 1963 comedy, which has been said by some people that it was his best, where Lewis played a mild-mannered chemistry professor whose scientific potion that made him into an obnoxious bar regular named Buddy Love. Some said that Buddy Love was based off of Lewis’s former comedic partner, Dean Martin, allowing him to play both sides in a double act. Others said the Buddy Love character was a creepy foreshadowing of Lewis’s own personality in his future. It might have been a little of both.

The Eddie Murphy remake follows the big picture of the Lewis film, with one added part: The protagonist is morbidly obese, along with making him shy and clumsy, and that doubles the chance for physical comedy. Jerry Lewis’ transformation from the professor into Buddy Love was a personality switch, but Murphy also goes through a complete physical change, from 400 pounds to average weight and back again, sometimes almost instantly.

As the movie starts, Murphy plays Professor Sherman Klump, brilliant chemist and geneticist, and fat man. He immediately falls in love with a new graduate student named Carla Purty, played by Will Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett, and warily bumbles his way into asking her out on a date. Meanwhile, his position at the college depends on raising new research funds, and the sycophantic college dean, played by comedian Larry Miller, puts on the pressure during a sarcastic meeting (“Anything I can get for you? Juice? Coffee? Rack of lamb?”).

Sherman’s habit when he gets worried is to eat, and so he sits down with relief to the Klump family dinner table. Every member of the Klump family (Sherman’s parents, brother, and grandmother) is played by Murphy, who has always been a master of disguises (think back to the SNL sketch of Gumby). But here he outdoes himself, in bringing up the increase of vulgarity that would be disgusting if it weren’t so funny (Ebert admitted, “The audience laughed so hard at Papa Klump's approach to colon cleansing that I missed the next six lines of dialogue”). The dinner table scene is where we also hear the famous "Hercules, Hercules, Hercules" line from the mother. Not only does Murphy play the Klumps, but he also scores huge laughs as a Richard Simmons droid on a TV exercise program.

The character of Sherman himself is a victory of successful disguise combined with good writing and acting. The makeup of Rick Baker (three-time Oscar winner) adds weight to Murphy’s face and neck so flawlessly that Sherman looks completely convincing. As Murphy plays him, Sherman becomes one of the most likable characters, good-hearted, sympathetic and funny. Ebert asked, “When Sherman morphs into Buddy Love, the thin character resembles some of Murphy's own abrasive stage incarnations; does this mean he'll be hosting telethons in 10 years?” The plot, freely inspired by the 1963 film, gets Sherman and the beautiful Carla to a cool nightclub where Sherman is humiliated by a comedian, played by one of the funniest comedians Dave Chappelle, because he’s fat (“I think I found where they hid Jimmy Hoffa.”). Dave Chappelle admitted at that part, he made Eddie Murphy break character by making water shoot out of Murphy's nose, which Chappelle admitted was a great feeling to make Murphy break character. Eddie Murphy admitted that at that part, you get to know Sherman very well and when that happens to him, you sympathize and feel sorry for him. Both Eddie Murphy and Dave Chappelle say that part is their favorite in the entire movie. Later Buddy Love returns to the club and gets revenge, although Carla’s attraction to Buddy is never really accounted for the fast-moving plot.

Sherman’s transformation into Buddy isn’t all makeup. At times animation and visual tricks are used. There are a couple of smooth special effects parts, including a nightmare where Sherman grows to be as big as King Kong and walks through a frightened city. Buddy has a tendency to show up into Buddy without notice, which leads to embarrassment: Fireman have to cut him out of a sports car. Murphy plays both roles at the same time in a scene where the two characters fight for control over the body. (The crazy energy here is a reminder that the director, Tom Shadyac, also directed “Ace Venture: Pet Detective.”) The ending is just as sentimental as the original, with Sherman finally accepting himself (and to be loved by Carla). He gives a heartfelt speech (“Buddy’s who I thought I wanted to be – who I thought the world wanted me to be”). Ebert admitted, “Eddie Murphy looks straight at the camera as he hits the last line, and it occurred to me that maybe he was referring indirectly to some of his recent career miscues.” There is a lot of Buddy Love in Eddie Murphy’s screen persona, and not enough Sherman Klump. Ebert ended his review by saying, “But I’ve never doubted Murphy's comic gift, and “The Nutty Professor” shows him back on track, balancing two sides of a real talent.”

Overall, I think this remake is funnier than the original, although I do not hate the original at all. If it wasn’t for the original, we would not have gotten this version. Both versions are funny in their own respective ways, but this one I just found funnier. Maybe it’s because I grew up around the time when Murphy was still in his popular days and I’m not old enough to say anything about Jerry Lewis. Anyways, check this one out if you have or haven’t seen the original and/or you are an Eddie Murphy fan because it’s definitely worth seeing. The dinner scene with all the farting I found to be funny, but that’s maybe because I’m really immature.

Dave Chappelle admitted that Eddie Murphy is one of the funniest people he has ever met, and when Murphy was in the Sherman outfit and makeup, he came over and told Chappelle that he is very funny. Murphy told Chappelle that he is really smart and funny, which makes him stand out from the other comedians, and Chappelle looked at him like he was surprised someone said that. Chappelle admitted that Murphy would give him good advice by saying when to write jokes, you think in pictures, which was the highlight of the movie for Chappelle.

Look out for this Friday when I look at the second installment in Soderbergh “Ocean’s Trilogy.”

The Nutty Professor (1963)

Since I am going to review all the “Ocean” movies every Friday of this month, I thought it would be appropriate to review all “The Nutty Professor” movies every Monday, since I can’t talk about Dean Martin and leave out his comedy partner, Jerry Lewis. With that said, let’s get started today with the 1963 Jerry Lewis classic, “The Nutty Professor.”

An online blogger by the name of “garv” started his review out by saying, “Jerry Lewis must have driven the studio bosses to drink when he announced that he wanted to tamper with his proven formula for The Nutty Professor.” For the first time in his career, Lewis decided to put aside the “nine-year-old” character, creating a completely new character with a different voice, different posture, and different look. The film was different too. “Garv” also noted, “Instead of a loosely connected group of blackout gags, The Nutty Professor featured a storyline that was both more coherent and more adult than anything Lewis had previously directed.”

Lewis plays Julius Kelp, a buck-toothed, near-sighted, accident-prone science professor. Kelp is in love with Stella Purdy, played by Stella Stevens, a shapely undergraduate, but he is too nervous to say anything to her. After being humiliated by a bully, played by Med Flory, in front of Stella and the rest of his class, the professor decides to muscle up, but physical exercise fails to change him physically. His only other choice is science, and before you can think up “Jekyll and Hyde,” Kelp invents a science potion that changes the chemistry professor into Buddy Love, a self-satisfied, bad-mannered narcissus. Despite his bad behavior, Buddy makes Stella fall head over heels and becomes the idol of the naïve set, who love him for his singing, swinging, and swilling. Of course, the make-believe can only last so long.

Over the years, “The Nutty Professor” has become Lewis’ most adored movie, but few critics have noted the major role that alcohol plays in the narrative. Once the professor changes into Buddy Love, he becomes a humongous jerk, leading to two of the best-remembered scenes in the history of covered cinema. The first happens after the professor’s first transformation into Buddy Love. “Garv” mentioned, “Kelp’s newly released alter ego makes a beeline for the local watering hole, The Purple Pit, a popular hangout for Stella and the other college students (most of who appear to be in their mid-forties).” Buddy jumps right into ordering a drink, the “Alaskan Polar Bear Heater,” a drink of near-death power. After saying the drink’s recipe to the Purple Pit’s bartender, played by Buddy Lester, he allows the bartender to taste the dangerous beverage. The bartender finds the creation appetizing, but then freezes in place as if hit by Medusa. “Garv” noted, “Buddy is unfazed and has no qualms about downing the rest of the cocktail.”

“The Nutty Professor” also has the best hangover scene in any movie. “Garv” put it as, “Showing up late for class, wearing tinted glasses, Professor Kelp suffers the aftermath of Buddy’s bacchanalia.” Lewis intensifies every sound in the scene to let the audience to experience what the character is going through. As he closes the classroom door, the coming with slam sounds like a cannon shot. Chalk scratching against the blackboard sounds like the scraping of metal upon metal. Finally, liquid dripping into a test tube sounds like the beating of a kettle drum mixed with the crashing of waves upon the shore. It is an inspired scene – the best in the whole movie.

While “The Nutty Professor” isn’t the funniest film that Jerry Lewis was in, it’s probably his best film ever. Like all the movies directed by Lewis, the jokes are uneven and the story once in a while falls into silly corniness. At the same time, Jerry’s talents as a filmmaker were never shown to greater effect. From the strange transformation scene to the amazing close-ups that show Stella Stevens at her most beautiful, this film is a candy-colored delight.

Thank you for joining in on my first installment on “The Nutty Professor series.” Stay tuned this Friday for my review on the first “Ocean’s Trilogy” directed by Steven Soderbergh.