Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000) starring Eddie Murphy, Janet Jackson, Larry Miller, John Ales, Jamal Mixon, Gabriel Williams directed by Peter Segal Movie Review

Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Eddie Murphy as Sherman Klump and Buddy Love in Nutty Professor II: The Klumps

A Whole Lotta Klump

Throughout much of his career or at least his early career Eddie Murphy played one sort of character and as such you wouldn't have called him a character actor. But with "The Nutty Professor" and its sequel "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps" you sort of have to say he is because with the aid of latex and make up he plays a whole host of characters. And to be honest "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps" is basically all about Eddie Murphy and the various characters he plays rather than a storyline which isn't really a surprise as "The Nutty Professor" certainly didn't need a sequel. As such it has its moments, there are some genuinely funny scenes but there is also a lot of nonsense which highlights how weak a sequel it is with a flimsy storyline and a lot of set pieces which make it feel almost like a spoof movie especially when it manages to throw in a "Star Wars" scene.

Professor Sherman Klump (Eddie Murphy - Bowfinger) has fallen for fellow professor Denise Gains (Janet Jackson) and he's popped the question. But he has a problem, Buddy Love (Eddie Murphy) is still in his system and is prone to making him do inappropriate things at the most inappropriate times. Fed up of having Buddy making his life a misery he decides to try a risky experiment to extract Buddy's DNA from his own and for a time all seems well. That is until not only does Sherman realise that he is losing his intelligence thanks to the extraction but a freak accident has caused Buddy to graft himself onto another DNA strand and is now a being in his own right, a being still set on making Sherman's life a misery.

Janet Jackson as Denise in Nutty Professor II: The Klumps

Now the biggest problem which "Nutty Professor II" has is that whilst a storyline is cobbled together which sees the loveable Sherman having to deal with Buddy Love once again by its sheer nature not only does it feel little more than a rehash of the first movie but also repetitive. So whilst we get a storyline which sees Sherman trying to remove Buddy's DNA from his own with dangerous consequences most of the storyline revolves around Buddy ruining Sherman's life be it at work or his romance as he plans to marry fellow professor Denise Gains. Basically they took the first movie, switched a few things around, brought in a couple of new scientific formulas and hoped it would be enough to deliver the humour, it isn't.

Now the humour, well it's a bit hit and miss as there are some genuinely funny scenes especially the opening sequence which sees Buddy's head come out of Sherman's trousers. But then likewise there is a lot of daftness which really isn't funny just stupid, especially set pieces including those featuring Grannie Klump and her imagination when it comes to her sex life. Talking of which it has to be said that for what really is a family movie "Nutty Professor II" contains some moments of sexual humour which could cause parents some blushes. Don't get me wrong, some of this sexual humour is clever and funny but whether it was needed in this sort of movie is another matter.

What also is a bit hit and miss is the spoofing of other movies such as "Armageddon" and "Star Wars" it is sort of clever but it also feels like a set piece gag that someone threw in not because it added to the movie but because they thought it was funny. And sadly some jokes get used again and again and whilst there is a certain amount of imagination used when it comes to farting when you've seen one farting joke you don't need it repeated again. It almost feels that at times the writers were struggling for intelligent humour and just went with the lowest denominator of humour because heck fart jokes can be funny.

As for the acting well she may not do a huge amount but Janet Jackson is both entertaining and beautiful as Denise and more importantly seems to be enjoying herself as does Larry Miller as Dean Richmond. But "Nutty Professor II" is really just about Eddie Murphy playing a whole host of characters and to be honest Murphy's sheer energy makes even the stupidest of characters and scenes kind of fun. But the thing is that sometimes this energy is a bit too much and characters go from being amusing to simply cringe worthy and crude.

What this all boils down to is that in all honesty "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps" isn't a good movie and a poor sequel. It does have some fun scenes and I am sure younger audiences will find all the lowest denominator humour entertaining but for adults it is both repetitive and little more than an excuse for Eddie Murphy to be loud and full on in various characters.


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