The Nutty Professor is a 1996 American science fiction dark comedy film starring Eddie Murphy. It is a remake of the 1963 film of the same name, which starred Jerry Lewis, which itself was a parody of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The film co-stars Jada Pinkett, James Coburn, Larry Miller, Dave Chappelle, and John Ales.
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, 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 Sherman takes revenge 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 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.
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. Richmond rehires Sherman and Hartley donates the grant to Wellman because he remarks that Sherman is "a brilliant scientist and a gentleman".