THE NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *
Gosh, aren't fart jokes funny? And if you've blown upwards of fifty
bucks to take your family to the movies, you'll certainly want lots of
them for your entertainment dollar. How about flatulence so intense
that it literally sets a restaurant on fire? Now, that would really be
funny. Right?
Well, so apparently believes the studio which spent over seventy million
dollars coming up with the sequel to THE NUTTY PROFESSOR starring Eddie
Murphy. This time called NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS, the movie
again stars a trash-talking Eddie Murphy, playing a host of roles. The
only commendable part of the production is the amazing make-up effects
that allow Murphy to look like a wide variety of obese characters.
The writing credits for this abomination are shared by no less than 5
writers: Steve Oedekerk, Barry W. Blaustein, David Sheffield, Paul Weitz
and Chris Weitz. I'd recommend that they all hide their heads in shame.
The movie will probably make a bundle, but, surely, they could have come
up with more imaginative material than this smelly batch of recycled
bathroom humor. They even stoop to having an octogenarian mistakenly
eat a large piece of feces.
This "R" movie, which is incorrectly rated PG-13, is actually written
with dumbed-down humor that seems designed to appeal to 8-year-old boys'
crude sensibilities. But, the movie would certainly not be appropriate
for anyone younger than their teenage years. Among other offensive
scenes are those of killer turds and an animal having anal sex with a
human.
Moreover, crudeness does not equal funny, as the renowned Farrelly
brothers (THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY) demonstrated recently in ME,
MYSELF & IRENE, a much better film than NUTTY PROFESSOR II. At least
the MPAA correctly rated ME, MYSELF & IRENE as an R. Both films share
about the same level of coarseness in their brand of attempted humor.
When not dispensing one disgusting joke after another, the movie follows
a plot that has Professor Sherman Klump (Murphy) trying to rid himself
of his nefarious alter ego, Buddy Love (Murphy). There are plenty of
subplots involving the rest of the fat Klump clan. Typical of these is
an unfunny bedroom scene between Papa Klump (Murphy) and Mama Klump
(Murphy). "Viagra doesn't work for me," he tells her, spurning her
advances. "I've been taking them like M&Ms."
I tried hard to think of good things about the movie other than the
make-up. All I can come up with is that Janet Jackson, as the
professor's girlfriend, does have a particularly inviting smile.
(Another would be that Murphy mumbles half of his lines, which partially
spares us from some of the film's inanities.) That's it. If you're
still dead set on wasting your money on this film, don't say I didn't
warn you.
NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS runs a long 1:50. It is officially rated
PG-13 for "crude humor and sex-related material." Consider it an R. It
would be acceptable for most teenagers, but I'd certainly advise against
anyone seeing it.
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Have I seen this movie: Yes
And what did I think: Nutty Professor II: The Klumps is a decent sequel but doesn't quite live up to its predecesor. The sequel expands on the funniest parts of the first movie, and that's Sherman Klump's family. This time around they don't seem quite as funny and the laughs are fewer and further between. Once again Eddie Murphy plays all of the Klumps except for his nephew. Janet Jackson stars as his love interest and while she's adequate, she's not exactly leading lady material. This time Sherman discovers a fountain of youth formula while battling his inner demon Buddy Love. Eventually Buddy somehow manages to manifest himself into a real person, and Sherman's brain cells start degrading because of this. The story is filled with lots of toilet humor like fart jokes, horny grandmothers and giant horny hamsters. Some of the story wasn't explained enough either. For instance, after Buddy Love becomes a real person, where does he go to live, how does he get money for nice clothes, a car, etc. Eddie Murphy does do a good job playing all these different characters, I'm sure it was a lot of work for him. He was just funnier in the first film. The movie does have some cheap laughs, so if you're into silly humor you might enjoy this. Just don't go expecting this to be on the same level as the first one. I'd say to go catch this as a matinee or wait to rent it.
I give Nutty Professor II: The Klumps 3 out of 5 stars
Review written July 8, 2000
