Nutty Professor (1996)

Editor's Note Eddie Murphy stars as a grossly overweight chemistry professor in this update of the classic 1963 Jerry Lewis comedy. Eager to reinvent himself and to ease his loneliness, the professor develops a potion that magically transforms him into a lean, mean, sex machine, capable of seducing any woman in sight, but he loses his niceness along the way. Academy Award Nominations: Best Makeup.

	Jada Pinkett
	John Ales
	Dave Chappelle
	Eddie Murphy
	James Coburn
	David Newman - Composer
	Tom Shadyac - Director

Sweet-natured, university scientist Sherman Klump is understandably insecure about his immense weight, particularly after meeting pretty grad student Carla Purty. He is conducting experiments in the hopes of inventing a formula that will instantly make one thin. After a disastrous date with Carla (in which a vitriolic stand-up comic makes Sherman his target), the desperate researcher swallows the formula before it's been perfected.| The solution not only makes Sherman thin, it transforms him into a smug, obnoxious cad named Buddy Love. Buddy also begins dating Carla (and gets sweet revenge on that comic), but drinks more and more of the solution in an effort to erase Sherman Klump forever.| However, the formula has a major side effect: Buddy continually transforms back into the corpulent Sherman, without warning -- and at the most inopportune times... Sight and Sound
"...Murphy's portrayal of Sherman Klump is surprisingly warm and touching..." 10/01/1996 p.49

Entertainment Weekly
"...A remake that improves upon the original....[A] career-reviving smash [for Murphy]....A sweet spirit..." -- Rating: A- 11/08/1996 pp.77-9

USA Today
"...A surprisingly funny comedy and respectable remake..." 06/28/1996 p.1D

Variety
"...Apt and comic....Combining the riotously funny and the sweetly sentimental....Miller is at his obsequious best....[Pinkett] demonstrates that her range ranks her among the most versatile young performers in movies..." 06/24/1996

Chicago Sun-Times
"...[Murphy's] back with exuberance and energy....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..." 06/28/1996 p.31