| Directed by: | Peter Segal |
| Written by: | Barry W. Blaustein, David Sheffield, Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz |
| Starring: | Eddie Murphy, Janet Jackson, Larry Miller, John Ales, Richard Grant |
| Released: | December 14, 2000 |
| Grade: | C- |
Professor Sheman Klump is back with new material. In the original remake of 1996, Sherman discovered a serum that allowed him to lose hundreds of pounds but as a side effect, the nasty Buddy Love persona was created. In the follow up sequel, Sherman has again cracked one of life’s impossibilities - the secret to the aging process and his latest concoction looks set to net him 150 million dollars.
The trouble is, Sherman hasn’t been feeling very well lately. It seems that after the Buddy Love incident, a few of Buddy’s genes remained in his system and they are starting to show strength. Buddy is busting to get out of Sherman, who finds he is starting to lose control of his own body.
In a bold experiment, Sherman attempts to remove Buddy’s genes, which initially proves successful, but ramifications follow. Firstly, Sherman finds his intelligence dwindling, which may cost him the wealthy contract, and secondly, Buddy’s extracted genes have been inadvertently mixed with DNA recreating a human Buddy who wants the contract to himself.
This film is nothing but a vehicle for the creativity of Eddie Murphy and make-up artist Rick Baker. There is no story but rather a series of sketches involving the whole Klump family who seem to only talk about farting, burping and erections. In all, Murphy plays 8 roles - Sherman Klump, “Papa” Klump, Young Cletus Klump, “Mama” Klump, Ernie Klump, Grandma Klump, Buddy Love and Lance Perkins. It may be funny for a while but having seen the routine in the original, Murphy is in serious need of a genre change.
The opening half-hour was excruciatingly boring and little changed in the later stages. Janet Jackson is useless as is Larry Miller and what was Chris Elliot doing in such a minor role? To make things even more predictable, brace yourself for the closing credits where we see all the “funny” outtakes involving Eddie Murphy.
Someone needs to explain to director Peter Segal the definition of the word “original”. The Nutty Professor 2 marks his fourth film as a director following The Naked Gun 33 1/3, Tommy Boy and My Fellow Americans. A total of five writers were responsible for the film and that’s not a particularly good sign either. In the words of McBain one feels “there were script problems from day one”.
One for the barrel, The Nutty Professor 2 is a fruitless attempt to cash in on the popularity of the original. How times have changed. The original The Nutty Professor with Jerry Lewis in 1966 was a great film and of course, no sequel was required. However, this is now the 21st Century and with few new ideas being tossed around, don’t be surprised if the number of sequels from other recent hits is on the rise. If they release a sequel to Titanic, I’m of here.