There have been plenty of remakes that have received critical acclaim that can match or even excel that of the original film. From "Scarface" to "The Thing", there are modernized remakes that are beloved either due to improvements of the originals or just being a more polished experience in regards to effects or filmmaking. One of these films is the remake of the 1963 comedy classic, "The Nutty Professor". Professor Sherman Klump is a kind-hearted scientist who is ridiculed by his employer and others for his obese state. When Klump falls in love with a chemistry grad student, he decides that he should finally put effort in losing weight. Despite trying his best, he gets humiliated on his date and finally decides to use an experimental formula that could reduce one's weight by altering the testosterone levels in the DNA. The formula manages to work, albeit it wears off from time to time. Regardless, Klump can't help himself to use the formula as being the alter ego named Buddy Love gives him confidence and a sexual-pleasing advantage, despite how Love is becoming more independent as a persona and plans to be rid of Klump forever. Despite the story both being carried over from the original and the film itself being comedic in nature, the premise works well on both the dramatic and comedic potential. The change to make Klump from a geeky nerd to an overweight professor is practically genius in regards to how they handle the issues of being fat-shamed and how those who are overweight try to cope or better themselves. However, the film is still a comedy at the end of the day and it's one that is a bit lost in terms of the demographic they want to please. On one hand, the remake offers an abundance of toilet humour and fat gags mainly consisting of fart jokes in regards to the Klump family. On the other hand though, there's a lot of sexual innuendos and a mean-spirited energy that hovers around the film whenever it shifts to Buddy Love. It just barely borders the line of family-friendly, but any age demographic can laugh either way as the jokes can actually be pretty funny or clever depending on the material.
Eddie Murphy as Sherman Klump/Buddy Love is just excellent as the duel protagonist and antagonist. While Lewis's performance in the original is memorable, he's not the most relatable character in regards to his conflict and romantic interest. Murphy however manages to make Sherman be so wholesome and loveable because he feels so grounded and restrained in regards to charisma. It contrasts perfectly with Buddy Love's over-the-top nature and scumbag personality who wants to be the centre of attention. Jada Pinkett Smith as Carta, Sherman's love interest, is decent and likeable for caring so much about Sherman, but because of the short runtime of an hour and a half, their chemistry feels really rushed and her flip-flopping between Sherman and Buddy doesn't seem realistic. Larry Miller as Dean Richmond is hilarious in his unnecessary belittlement towards Sherman and Miller just chewing up the scenery every single time he's onscreen. John Ales as Jason, Sherman's lab assistant, is actually really good as Sherman's only real friend and ally in regards to him being the only one aware of Sherman's experiment and duel identity. Dave Chappelle as Reggie Washington is just the legendary stand-up comic doing a no-holds bar act as he roasts guests and Sherman in the comedy diner who steals the show in the two scenes he shares with Murphy. The last characters to mention would be the Klump family, all of whom played by Murphy aside from the kid. While they can clearly overstay their welcome in regards to the fart and fat humour surrounding them, they manage to be charming due to their distinct personalites with Klump's mother being the most supportive, his father being negligent in his support, Ernie being the show-off brother, and his grandmother being the most vulgar of the family. It's very much Murphy flexing his acting and impersonation skills rather than having developed characters, but it still really works. The cast is great and despite some minor flaws with Carta as the fairly standard love interest, all of the characters are both enjoyable and engaging, with Murphy being the obvious stand-out along with Miller and Chappelle.
Tom Shadyac is best known for directing various comedy films, both famous or infamous. While Shadyac's directing doesn't feel particularly stylish or ambitious, he manages to do a good job in regards to comedic delivery and pacing for sequences which is aided by the editing from Don Zimmerman. The film is overly bright and polished though as every scene, aside from the university campus, feels like it was made on a set. The cinematography by Julio Macat is also known for his lengthy work on plenty of comedy films and it's as good as you can get. Most scenes are standardly shot, but I like the great panning or zoom shots in regards to comedic potential. The music by David Newman is actually fairly decent. While some of the tracks can be pretty generic, I love the soft and dramatic piano themes used throughout the film. On top of that, the soundtrack is fairly underrated with great uses of contemporary R&B songs from the 1970's to 1990's, ranging from James Brown's "I Feel Good" to Montell Jordan's "This Is How We Do It". The last thing to note will be the visual effects. The fat suits and prosthetics worn by Murphy when portraying the Klumps were made by legendary make-up special effects designer, Rick Baker, and it shows how excellent the effect is on screen. Add Murphy's amazing performance and range and you actually start double-guessing on if Sherman is played by a different actor as Baker makes the rather well-built Murphy look so obese. Not only that, but the optical effects are also great in regards to the Klump family and the green-screen regarding them. The "Back to the Future" sequels were impressive in trying to have the same actor share the same space with two different characters, but this film practically blows it out of the water in regards to how Murphy interacts with himself. While the CGI effects in regards to Buddy transforming back to Sherman are pretty cartoonish, it's kind of meant to be exaggerated in regards to the type of film it is. It just shows how much effort was put into the film, both for the effects and the comedic/dramatic elements.
"The Nutty Professor" is, for the most part, a clever upgrade to the original film that stands on its own in so many ways. It's not a comedic masterpiece for sure, as the fart jokes can be juvenile at times, Carta is a weak love interest in regards to the pacing of the film despite Pinkett's performance being solid, the Klump family antics can be pretty annoying, and the film itself can feel really artificial for the majority of the runtime in regards to the set design and lighting. Despite this, it shines as a great remake for a list of positives. The story is smartly updated to have the protagonist be fat rather than a geek, the dramatic potential for Sherman's dilemma is well established and explored, the tone is almost designed to have any age demographic laugh their heads off, Murphy's dual performance as Sherman and Buddy contrast perfectly off one another and represent the grounded drama and goofball comedy pairing, all of the side characters can be memorable, likeable or downright hilarious depending on the actor, the score by Newman is above-average with his piano themes being really good in the dramatic parts of the film, the soundtrack itself is great to listen to if you love contemporary R&B, the visual effects are simply fantastic in both the prosthetic and digital department and never come across as bad or out-of-place, and the efforts of Shadyac, Zimmerman, and Macat offer up their skills to create effective comedy and drama even if there's a lack of flair to it all. While it's no "Trading Places" or "Spy", it's very close at being a comedic classic. However, it's for sure one of Murphy's best films to date.
Verdict: 8/10. A great comedy that can be outstanding if a bit of humour and runtime balance was added. Watch for the drama, laughs, performances and outstanding, Oscar-winning effects.
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