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The Nutty Professor (1996 film)

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The Nutty Professor
An obese man in a tweed suit and glasses, reflected in the mirror is a skinny man wearing a skintight leotard
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTom Shadyac
Screenplay by
Based on
The Nutty Professor
1963 film
by Jerry Lewis
Bill Richmond
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJulio Macat
Edited byDon Zimmerman
Music byDavid Newman
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • June 28, 1996 (1996-06-28)
Running time
96 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$54 million[2]
Box office$274 million[2][3]

The Nutty Professor is a 1996 American science fiction comedy film starring Eddie Murphy as the titular character. It is a remake of the 1963 film, which starred Jerry Lewis. Directed by Tom Shadyac, it co-stars Jada Pinkett, James Coburn, Larry Miller, Dave Chappelle, and John Ales. Filming began in May 1995 and wrapped in September 1995. The original music score was composed by David Newman.

The Nutty Professor was released by Universal Pictures on June 28, 1996, and was a commercial and critical success. It won Best Makeup at the 69th Academy Awards.[4][5] The film's success spawned a sequel, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, released in 2000.

Plot

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Sherman Klump, a morbidly obese, 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 with Carla Purty, a chemistry graduate who is a big fan of his work, is made fun of for his weight by comedian 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 same club again. Reggie is present again, and Sherman takes revenge by heckling him mercilessly. 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 Klump's lab assistant Jason at the college.

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 former planning to donate $10,000,000 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 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 kill Sherman permanently, 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 and Carla. As he leaves, Carla stops him and asks why he lied; he says he did not believe that she would accept him. While they don't initiate a romantic relationship, Sherman and Carla remain friends and share a dance together. Richmond rehires Sherman and Hartley gives the donation to Sherman.

Cast

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Production

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Producer Brian Grazer pursued the idea of remaking The Nutty Professor with a black lead after it was suggested to him by music producer Russell Simmons. Murphy and Grazer had hoped John Landis would direct, having previously worked successfully with Murphy.[6] Ultimately, Tom Shadyac, the director of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, joined the project. The Nutty Professor was the first Tom Shadyac film to feature outtakes over the closing credits.[citation needed] Murphy, Barry Blaustein, David Sheffield and Steve Oedekerk worked together on the screenplay. The film is not a strict remake of the Jerry Lewis film; Murphy said, "we stripped down the story to its bare bones and built it up to this whole different thing", adding elements from the story of Jekyll and Hyde as well as Cyrano de Bergerac.[6] Pinkett declined to play a role in Independence Day in order to star in The Nutty Professor.[7]

The film has a series of scenes with Murphy and comedian Dave Chappelle who plays insult comic Reggie Warrington. Much of their dialogue was improvised.[citation needed] Murphy was one of Chappelle's biggest comedic influences.[8] Reggie Warrington is named after Reginald and Warrington Hudlin, brothers, and directors of one of Murphy's previous films, Boomerang.[9] Reginald Hudlin was surprised to see the character was named after him and his brother, and to see the character violently stuffed into a piano.[10]

The film was made with the help of Jerry Lewis. He was an executive producer for both this film and the 2000 sequel Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. In 2009, he expressed regret for allowing the remakes, saying, "I have such respect for Eddie, but I should not have done it. What I did was perfect the first time around and all you're going to do is diminish that perfection by letting someone else do it."[9][11]

Rick Baker created the fat suits for Murphy. They were made from urethane foam and a spandex suit, and filled with pockets of liquid to make it jiggle believably. It took three hours to apply the makeup each day.[12] Baker praised Murphy, saying, "He really makes the stuff come to life, and he never complains. When we did The Nutty Professor [...], he spent 80-odd days in the makeup chair. As much as I love makeup, even I would have been complaining by the end, but Eddie didn't."[13]

Music

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Year Title Chart positions Certifications
(sales thresholds)
U.S. U.S. R&B
1996 The Nutty Professor
  • Released: June 4, 1996
  • Label: Def Jam
 8 1
  • US: Platinum

Release

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Home media

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The Nutty Professor was released on VHS and LaserDisc on November 12, 1996.[14] During its first week of release, the film ranked second on the sales chart behind Toy Story and fifth on the rentals chart behind the latter film, Eraser, Mission: Impossible and Primal Fear.[15] It had the fifth-highest rentals of 1996, ranking behind Braveheart, Seven, The Net and Twister with $39 million in rentals revenue.[16]

The film was released on Blu-ray on March 6, 2012.[17]

Reception

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Box office

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The Nutty Professor was a box-office success, making an opening weekend gross with $25,411,725. It topped the box office during its opening weekend, beating out Eraser, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Striptease.[18] The film would hold the record for having the highest opening weekend for an Eddie Murphy film until it was taken by Dr. Dolittle in 1998.[19] It reached a gross of $128,814,019 domestically, and $145,00,000 internationally, for a total of $273,814,019 worldwide.[2][3]

Critical response

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The Nutty Professor has received generally positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 65% based on reviews from 57 critics, with an average rating of 5.90/10. The site's consensus states: "The Nutty Professor falls back on juvenile humor eagerly and often, but Eddie Murphy's consistently funny work in dual roles means more for audiences to love."[20] Metacritic gave the film a score of 62 out of 100, based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[21] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A− on scale of A to F.[22]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 stars out of 4, calling it "a movie that's like a thumb to the nose for everyone who said [Murphy had] 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."[23] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B+, writing "You can feel Murphy rediscovering his joy as a performer. He rediscovers it, too, as Sherman Klump, a fellow who, much like Murphy, is on the bottom rung, desperate to reinvent himself, and – at long last – does."[24] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film a positive review, saying "Eddie Murphy is funny again. Sadly, he lacks the guts to follow through on the cathartic self-satire that gives the film its distinction." Travers praised the "amazing" fat makeup by Rick Baker, but criticized the "safe" fat jokes, and concluded "Only when Murphy stops skewering the compulsive overeater in his nutty professor and targets the sexist pig does the film hit home."[25]

Accolades

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Sequel

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A sequel, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, was released on July 28, 2000.

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "THE NUTTY PROFESSOR (12)". British Board of Film Classification. July 9, 1996. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 "The Nutty Professor (1996)". Box Office Mojo.
  3. 1 2 "The Nutty Professor (1996)". The Numbers.
  4. ↑ "Oscar night: Fashion world's moment in sun". The Orlando Sentinel. March 25, 1997. p. 4. Archived from the original on May 6, 2023. Retrieved May 6, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. 1 2 "The 69th Academy Awards (1997) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. October 5, 2014. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 Claudia Eller (May 5, 1994). "That 'Nutty' Eddie Murphy". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 20, 2021.
  7. ↑ "15 Things You Probably Didn't Know About The Nutty Professor". Mentalfloss.com. January 12, 2015. Retrieved June 14, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Dave Chappelle". Inside the Actors Studio. Season 12. Episode 10. February 12, 2006. Bravo.
  9. 1 2 SEAN HUTCHINSON (January 12, 2015). "15 Things You Probably Didn't Know About 'The Nutty Professor'". Mental Floss. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  10. ↑ Modderno, Craig (December 3, 2006). "Eddie Murphy Inspires Oscar Buzz. Seriously. (Published 2006)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 17, 2017.
  11. ↑ Chris Nashawaty (January 23, 2009). "Jerry Lewis Looks Back on His Career Ahead of Honorary Academy Award". Entertainment Weekly.
  12. ↑ Chuck Crisafulli (July 5, 1996). "Makeup Artist Baker Is the Man of a Thousand Faces". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 29, 2019.
  13. ↑ Sharon Eberson (February 9, 2007). "Makeup artist gets in the thick of things for 'Norbit'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  14. ↑ Hartl, John (October 31, 1996). "Get ready to celebrate 'Independence' on video". Knight-Ridder Newspapers. Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. 76. Archived from the original on July 28, 2026. Retrieved July 28, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Billboard lists top audios, videos". Goldsboro News-Argus. November 29, 1996. p. 24. Archived from the original on July 29, 2026. Retrieved July 29, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ Alsop, Ronald J., ed. (1997). "Top Video Rentals for 1996". The Wall Street Journal Almanac 1998. New York City: Ballantine Books: 912. Source: Paul Kagan Associates Inc.
  17. ↑ "'The Nutty Professor' Announced for Blu-ray".
  18. ↑ "'The Nutty Professor' weighs in at No. 1". Daily Record. July 2, 1996. p. 23. Archived from the original on May 6, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  19. ↑ "Murphy big at the box office". The Manhattan Mercury. June 29, 1998. p. 16. Archived from the original on November 5, 2022. Retrieved November 5, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  20. ↑ "The Nutty Professor". Rotten Tomatoes. June 28, 1996.
  21. ↑ "The Nutty Professor". Metacritic. CBS Interactive.
  22. ↑ "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on December 20, 2018.
  23. ↑ Roger Ebert (June 28, 1996). "The Nutty Professor". Chicago Sun-Times.
  24. ↑ Owen Gleiberman. "The Nutty Professor". Entertainment Weekly.
  25. ↑ Travers, Peter (June 28, 1996). "The Nutty Professor". Rolling Stone.
  26. ↑ "Golden Globe Nominations". Variety. December 19, 1996. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
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