Mr. Cranky's rating:
When not masturbating itself with multiple Murphys, this film is a painfully long, unrelenting series of freak coincidences, moron science, fart jokes and exchanges of patent untruths.
Personally, if I had wanted to give Eddie Murphy a good reason toscream and act idiotic for a couple of hours I would have given him a
glass of Liquid Plummer and a straw. However, producer Brian Grazer and director Tom ("Ace
Ventura, Pet Detective") Shadyac made the process much more complicated and uninteresting by giving him $60 million and a script based on the 1963 Jerry Lewis comedy.
Eddie plays about ten roles in this movie, including the Nutty
Professor himself, Sherman Klump, who's about the size of a Geo Metro. His other
roles include a Richard Simmons-like exercise guru and Sherman's entire
family. Sherman discovers a magic potion that turns him from a fat professor
into the good-looking, testosterone-charged Buddy Love. This gives him an
excuse to run around like Jerry Lewis after a few too many Mountain Dews. (INTERACTIVE BONUS: Insert your own requisite French insult here.)
Given that Murphy's last few films have been gems like "Vampire in
Brooklyn," "The Distinguished Gentleman" and "Boomerang," why not let him play one role successfully before giving him ten to tackle?
Why not provide him with something other than a cliché-riddled script
to work from? Would you be stunned to learn that fat Sherman gets the
girl and gives several speeches on how attraction should be based on
something other than appearance? (Like what? Hat size?) Then again, the
writers of this film are also responsible for such enduring classics as "Police Academy 2";
they probably consider it an "accomplishment" when they're not being actively stalked.
Was it really that bad?
You tell us! Discuss "Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps" in the Mr. Cranky forum below!
