One of Hollywood’s most interesting and difficult to predict products is the sequel. The results can range from the superb (The Godfather Part II, Terminator 2, The Empire Strikes Back) to the atrocious (Scream 2, any Police Academy sequel). Unfortunately, the sequel to Eddie Murphy’s fantastic 1996 film The Nutty Professor leans more toward the latter category than the former. In Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Murphy reprises his simultaneous roles as nearly the entire Klump family. Under the many pounds of latex and makeup, Murphy seems to have lost the comic flair that made the first Nutty so enjoyable.
In this latest installment, the main character, Professor Sherman Klump develops a formula that serves as a temporary “fountain of youth” for those who consume it. The rights to this formula will bring millions of dollars to the Professor and his college.
Standing in the way of Sherman’s success is his pesky alter ego, Buddy Love, who is little more than pure testosterone personified. The Buddy Love character was very funny in the first Nutty, but he quickly becomes annoying this time around.
Buddy is not the only character in the film that seems stale. The Klump family, who in the first Nutty Professor movie provided some of the funniest scenes of the past decade with their dinnertime arguments and antics, are overused and simply not as funny this time around. The movie tries a few too many times to fall back on the family’s comic relief and often fails to reach the high standards of well-written dialogue and razor-sharp timing that worked so well in the first movie. Even Grandma Klump, whose raunchiness provided numerous belly laughs in the first movie, seems worn-out and so overtly sex-crazed this time around that she loses her charm. Janet Jackson plays Sherman’s love interest, and she delivers a suitable performance, but seems more interested in being featured on the soundtrack than starring in the picture.
Executive Producer Tom Shadyac, the director of the original, successfully avoided directing a sub-par sequel for the second time (he directed Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, but not it’s awful follow-up). Peter Segal (Tommy Boy) did a fine job directing considering the inferior script with which he had to work.
The movie does have its bright spots, though. The always-funny Larry Miller returns as Dean Richmond. Miller plays this role to sarcastic perfection, and the audience can nearly feel his pain as he is violated in the most painful sense by a giant hamster, a scene that sets up the movie’s best jokes. Despite the overuse of the Klump family throughout the movie, there are flashes of comedic brilliance within the family’s bickering that make the viewer long for the more consistent comedy of the first movie.
It would be a mistake to talk about this movie without mentioning the makeup. Rick Baker and his crew did a phenomenal job in using a great deal of latex and makeup to create at least seven distinct physical personas for Eddie Murphy. The makeup effects in this movie are top notch and definitely deserve an Oscar.
The Klumps falls well short of the high standard of humor set by The Nutty Professor. An inferior script and many unsuccessful attempts at re-creating the hilarity of the first movie’s family scenes make this sequel pale in comparison to its much funnier predecessor. While the sequel does have its moments of good material, it is much more advisable to take a trip to the video store and rent 1996’s The Nutty Professor for guaranteed continuous and hardy laughter. C-
Editors Note: The Arts and Entertainment section will begin featuring a rating system at the end of our reviews. The ratings will follow the grading system that students have grown to know and love.