Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
reviewed by The Self-Made Critic
How much Eddie Murphy is too much?
This is a question that has plagued mankind for two decades. Sure, he's a
funny, talented comic, able to leap from character to character without
batting an eye, but at what point do we cry 'enough is enough! No more
Eddie!'
While he's always dipped into the skin of more than one character in films
such as Coming to America and Bowfinger, his piece de resistance is
unquestionably The Nutty Professor. Now, Eddie has brought Professor Klump
back, as well as Klump's entire family and entourage in Nutty Professor II:
The Klumps.
But is it more Eddie than we can bear?
Eddie plays six characters that I can think of right away, but he has
probably snuck in one or two more places without telling me. He plays six
characters, many with their own storyline and character arc! Sherman is
dealing with his formula and his bride to be, Buddy wants to steal the
formula, Mom and Pop are having issues, Grandma is far too horny for her own
good, and Brother Klump is busy being just plain dumb. But when you take all
of the characters out and just remember that it's all Eddie, the movie gets
really, really weird.
Tender love moments between Eddie and Himself. Eddie trying to seduce Eddie,
though Eddie's horrified at the thought. Eddie running around trying to
drink Eddie with a straw. Eddie giving Eddie advice on how to deal with
Eddie. Eddie being completely disgusted at Eddie's voracious sex life. And
of course the family meal where Eddie gets in an argument with Eddie and
Eddie, trying to smooth things over, accidentally upsets Eddie even more than
Eddie already did.
I think the man needs some serious therapy.
One wonders why they bothered to cast other actors at all. Sure Janet
Jackson is sweet as the sweet young love interest for Eddie, but couldn't
Eddie have been his own sweet young love interest? And Larry Miller, as the
balding white Dean of the University wasn't really needed. Eddie could have
played the balding white man just as easily as Larry.
However, this movie isn't all about Eddie.
It's also about sex jokes and fart jokes.
Dogs hump dogs. Hamsters hump hamsters. Hamsters hump people. There's a
lot of indiscriminant humping going on in this movie. And there's a lot of
farting. Some of the farting saves the world. Some of it tosses goo around
the room. Some of it just happens for no reason other than Eddie's love of
the fart.
Story? Huh. Sherman Klump wants marry Janet (Miss Jackson if you're nasty)
But he gets uncontrollable urges from Buddy Love, deep in his psyche. So he
extracts the Buddy Love DNA from his body and goes on with life. Naturally,
Buddy Love comes to life. I'm not exactly sure how, it's not important.
Meanwhile Sherman and Miss Jackson (I'm nasty) have created the fountain of
youth. And then there are all the subplots for the Klump family, but they're
not important, just excuses for Eddie to play dress-up and fart.
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps gets 2 1/2 Babylons. When all is said and
done, this is a below-average movie, but not a lost effort. There are
moments where you will laugh out loud. Many of those moments will have you
embarrassed to be laughing at what you're laughing at. It is low brow humor
with not quite as much heart as the first movie.
Basically, it's about one Klump too many.
Editor's Note:
Just so you know, it took me twice as long to edit this review, since the SMC
had made so many grammatical errors it was practically unreadable. I believe
that seeing this movie made the SMC's IQ drop at least 20 points, and he
doesn't have much more to spare.
Nutty Professor Ii: the Klumps
Rated: PG-13
Directed By: Peter Segal
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Eddie Murphy, Janet Jackson, Eddie Murphy, Eddie
Murphy, Larry Miller, Eddie Murphy, Eddie Murphy and a love-sick hamster.
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