In 1963 Jerry Lewis wrote and starred in the original Nutty Professor, as a hopelessly geeky chemistry professor who invents a serum that transforms him into the smooth and inexplicably charismatic Buddy Love. Eddie Murphy has adopted this idea and starred as a tremendously obese but extremely intelligent professor who invents a serum that does the same thing.
The make-up is a significant part of this film, since Murphy plays a total of seven different characters (only one of which he plays looking at all like himself), and it is done spectacularly. The dinner scenes at the Klump household are some of the highlights of the film; Murphy plays the entire family wonderfully and hilariously. There is something to be said for the clever editing that gives the illusion that all of these members of the dysfunctional Klump family are all siting around the same table at the same time, even though the whole family (except for Ernie Klump Jr.) is played by the same man. Way to go Eddie.
However, despite Murphy's delightful performance as the Klump family, his antics as the excessively confident and loudly obnoxious Buddy Love get very tiring very quick. In particular I recall the scenes where he finds the act of an offensive comedian to be the funniest thing he's ever heard. The whole scene where he winds up throwing the guy in the piano is just too childish to pay enough respect to the hilarious original (except for when Reggie, the comedian, took his hat off. THAT was funny).
The re-make of The Nutty Professor is a well-made comedy. It is very faithful to the hilarious original, yet it also has a personality of its own. The film's message is exactly the same as the original, but the subtle (and some not so subtle) differences between the two make it worth the time to watch them both. The 1996 version took the advances of special effects and make-up and used them to add to the original story and make a bigger (but not necessarily funnier) film.
The make-up is a significant part of this film, since Murphy plays a total of seven different characters (only one of which he plays looking at all like himself), and it is done spectacularly. The dinner scenes at the Klump household are some of the highlights of the film; Murphy plays the entire family wonderfully and hilariously. There is something to be said for the clever editing that gives the illusion that all of these members of the dysfunctional Klump family are all siting around the same table at the same time, even though the whole family (except for Ernie Klump Jr.) is played by the same man. Way to go Eddie.
However, despite Murphy's delightful performance as the Klump family, his antics as the excessively confident and loudly obnoxious Buddy Love get very tiring very quick. In particular I recall the scenes where he finds the act of an offensive comedian to be the funniest thing he's ever heard. The whole scene where he winds up throwing the guy in the piano is just too childish to pay enough respect to the hilarious original (except for when Reggie, the comedian, took his hat off. THAT was funny).
The re-make of The Nutty Professor is a well-made comedy. It is very faithful to the hilarious original, yet it also has a personality of its own. The film's message is exactly the same as the original, but the subtle (and some not so subtle) differences between the two make it worth the time to watch them both. The 1996 version took the advances of special effects and make-up and used them to add to the original story and make a bigger (but not necessarily funnier) film.