The Nutty Professor (1996)

	Directed by: Tom Shadyac	COUNTRY USA Genre Comedy NORWEGIAN TITLE Den helskrudde professoren RUNNING TIME 91 minutes
	Produced by: Brian Grazer Russell Simmons
	Written by: David Sheffield Barry W. Blaustein Tom Shadyac Steve Oedekerk
	Based on the script for The Nutty Professor (1963) by: Jerry Lewis Bill Richmond

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Sherman Klump, Buddy Love, Lance Perkins, Papa Klump, Mama Klump, Grandma Klump, Ernie Klump	Eddie Murphy	½
Carla Purty	Jada Pinkett
Harlan Hartley	James Coburn	-
Dean Richmond	Larry Miller
Reggie Warrington	Dave Chappelle	-

Review

This remake of the 1963 film by and starring Jerry Lewis has become an engaging comedy thanks to Eddie Murphy's brilliant talent and some frenzied antics. Murphy gives such an enthusiastic performance that even the award-winning makeup artistry and other visual effects are outshone, even if they are brilliant – and a lot less predictable than the tedious idealistic moralizing we're being fed at the end of the film. But don't let this overly explicit message ruin the experience. As a comedy, most of the film is a riot. Murphy has always had a special screen presence, and here he also gets to showcase his talent for physical comedy in no fewer than seven different parts. Hardly anyone other than he or Jim Carrey could have carried this out with such expertise. The two lengthy segments around the Klump family dinner table are particularly remarkable. And director Tom Shadyac, who first demonstrated his ability with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective in 1994, shows that he knows how to populate his images with small comic details while also giving his star the perfect platform to work from. Observant viewers will be able to enjoy several curious parallels between Ace and The Nutty Professor.