Date: Fri 27-Sep-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: SHIRLE

Illustration: C

Location: A10

Quick Words:

Playing-Murphy-Nutty-Professor

Full Text:

(rev "The Nutty Professor" for Now Playing, 9/27/96)

Now Playing-

Murphy Returns To His `Nutty' Best

BY TREY PAUL ALEXANDER III

When was the last time you were in a movie audience that erupted so

vociferously in laughter that for the next few seconds it was difficult to

hear what was being said? Those of you who saw The Nutty Professor over the

summer can put your hands down now, and those who haven't will get a chance to

catch it at the Edmond Town Hall theatre in Newtown this week.

Eddie Murphy returns to comedic glory in this remake of Jerry Lewis' 1963

comedy. Encased in a convincing latex body suit designed by Rick Baker (the

man behind many of the jaw-droppingly imaginative aliens in the now-famous

Star Wars bar scene), Murphy metamorphoses into obese college chemistry

professor Sherman Klump. Portly would be a kind adjective to describe

Sherman's overwhelming girth, which is so expansive he can hardly write on a

chalkboard without his belly subsequently smearing the freshly written notes.

Sherman finds reason to dust the chalk off his clothes when Miss Purty (Jada

Pinkett), an attractive new professor on campus, introduces herself as an

admirer of his scholastic achievements. The two hit it off, and the film does

well to convey that Sherman's kind soul has helped him avoid receiving abusive

fat jokes and stinging barbs from those that know him. But not everyone knows

him, and Sherman tires of the gasps he hears from passersby, those for whom

looks are still the primary focus in first impressions (and admittedly,

doesn't that still include many of us?)

A pivotal moment comes when Sherman musters up the courage to take Miss Purty

out on a date. Enjoying themselves at a trendy club, the couple suddenly gets

jolted by the evening's stand-up performer (Dave Chappelle), an obnoxious

comic who ridicules Sherman's size and preys upon all of Sherman's

insecurities. It's the final straw, prompting Sherman to retreat to his lab

and use himself as a guinea pig for an experimental mass reduction serum he is

developing. The potion works, temporarily transforming Sherman into a trim,

handsome hunk named Buddy Love (Murphy without the makeup).

The catch is that the Buddy persona, which works on extremely high

testosterone levels, is just as crass and misogynistic as Sherman is

gentlemanly. Though not short on charm, Buddy is a troublemaker, and Sherman

becomes distressed when his alter ego begins wooing Miss Purty and grows

interested in remaining Buddy Love, thus dispatching of his Sherman psyche,

permanently.

The Nutty Professor brightly exhibits the kind of energetic playfulness that

made Murphy such a star when he emerged from the ranks of "Saturday Night

Live." Including the Sherman Klump/Buddy Love duo, Murphy plays seven

different characters in the film, and five of them appear at once during a

dinner table sequence at the Klump household. These uproarious scenes, which

admittedly border on the brazenly vulgar, feature Sherman and his flatulent

family, and though it gets awfully rowdy during these moments, it is a joy to

see Murphy so at ease and on his game.

Although Murphy indulges himself with Sherman's intentionally caricaturish

kin, perhaps his greatest triumph in The Nutty Professor is his ability to

endow Sherman with a compassionate spirit and effectively emote from under the

latex double chins and puffy cheeks. When Sherman's mother tries to console

him by saying, "When the good Lord made you, he made you beautiful inside and

out," Murphy's performance makes these more than just empty words and his

portrayal, not just the ton of makeup, turns Sherman Klump into a

three-dimensional being.

The Nutty Professor is rated PG-13 and earns it with its excess of bawdy

humor, profanity and sexual suggestiveness.