2000 film by Peter Segal
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps is a 2000 American comedy film directed by Peter Segal.[3] It is the sequel to the 1996 film The Nutty Professor and final installment in the remake series.
In contrast to the previous film, subplots which are centered on the parents of protagonist Sherman Klump occupy a substantial part of the film. Members of the Klump family, including Sherman's parents, also provide an increased level of comic relief.
Plot
Professor Sherman Klump has created a new de-aging formula. He is also in love with DNA researcher, Denise Gaines, developer of a method to isolate genetic material. Despite his good fortune, Sherman's id alter ego, Buddy Love, has taken to sporadically controlling Sherman's body. Sherman becomes determined to permanently rid himself of Buddy when his antics corrupt Sherman's attempted proposal to Denise into a mortifying display of perversion.
Despite his assistant, Jason, warning him of potential consequences, Sherman uses Denise's methodology to isolate and remove the DNA where Buddy has manifested. However, the Buddy genetic material grows into a sentient being when a hair from Jason's Basset Hound, Buster, accidentally lands in it. Sherman apologizes to Denise and they become engaged. Later, Dean Richmond informs them that Phleer Pharmaceuticals has offered Wellman College $150 million for the youth formula.
Sherman and Denise then encounter the newly reformed Buddy at a movie theater. Buddy pickpockets Sherman and learns of the $150 million offer. He subsequently visits the pharmaceutical company, making a rival bid of $149 million with Leanne Guilford, President of Acquisitions, for the youth formula. Sherman learns that the extraction has altered his body chemistry and that he is losing his intelligence. Realizing he needs to keep the youth formula out of Buddy's hands, Sherman stashes it at his parents' home.
Sherman's sexually frustrated father Cletus accidentally drinks some of the youth formula. He goes out for a night on the town and attempts to seduce his wife and Sherman's mother, Anna, but she is horrified. Buddy witnesses Cletus changing and realizes that the youth formula is being stored in the Klump household. Meanwhile, Sherman's condition causes him to act like a fool in front of Denise's parents, concerning her.
Buddy steals some of the youth formula from the Klump household, filling the vial the rest of the way with fertilizer. This sabotage causes chaos at a demonstration the next day as Petey, the male hamster Sherman uses to demonstrate the formula, mutates into a giant monster who violates Richmond as he is trying to escape under a fur coat, as Petey confuses him for Molly, the female hamster that escaped during the event. The humiliated and enraged Richmond fires Sherman, who soon learns from Jason that his brain's deterioration has worsened, so he decides to break up with Denise. Cletus consoles a depressed Sherman, and inadvertently gives him the solution to regaining his intelligence: getting Buddy Love back into his DNA.
Sherman quickly works on a newer, much more potent formula while his mental faculties allow him. Richmond confronts him about Buddy's actions, believing that they are working together. Sherman leaves with Richmond and a tennis ball covered in the youth formula and heads to a presentation at Phleer Pharmaceuticals that Buddy is giving about the youth formula. Meanwhile, a worried Denise discovers what has happened and that Sherman's brain damage is progressing. With Cletus' help, Denise goes after him. Sherman takes advantage of the canine DNA crossed with Buddy's and throws the tennis ball to distract him. Buddy catches the ball in his mouth, and the youth formula transforms him back into a glowing mass of sentient genetic material.
Sherman chases the genetic material, intent on drinking it to correct his condition. However, it evaporates on the edge of a fountain before he can. Cletus and Denise arrive too late to save him, and Denise breaks into tears, which hit the genetic material and fall into the fountain. As they go to leave, Sherman looks into the fountain, remarking that it is "pretty". Seeing the water is glowing, Denise realizes the genetic material has reconstituted thanks to her tears and that if Sherman drinks the fountain water, he will be restored to normal. When he drinks it, he is able to restore his intelligence.
Sherman and Denise later get married, while Cletus and Anna reconcile with each other.
Cast
Additionally, Kathleen Freeman makes an uncredited appearance as Denise's neighbor who witnesses Sherman proposing to her. Freeman previously portrayed Millie Lemmon in the original 1963 film.[5]
Reception
Box office
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps grossed $42.5 million in its opening weekend, beating out Thomas and the Magic Railroad and What Lies Beneath to reach the number one spot. At the time, it had the highest opening weekend for an Eddie Murphy film, breaking the record formerly held by Dr. Dolittle.[6] This also made it the third-highest opening weekend for any 2000 film, behind X-Men and Mission: Impossible 2.[7] For its second weekend, it fell into second place behind Hollow Man with $18 million.[8] The film went on to generate a total gross of over $123.3 million in the United States. It earned an additional $43 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $166.3 million worldwide.[2]
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 27% and an average rating of 4.5/10, based on reviews from 89 critics. The site's consensus states that "While Eddie Murphy is still hilarious as the entire Klump family, the movie falls apart because of uneven pacing, a poor script, and skits that rely on being gross rather than funny."[9] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 38 out of 100, a score that indicates generally unfavorable reviews, based on reviews from 34 critics.[10] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on a scale of A+ to F.[11]
Salon.com's reviewer gave the movie one of its few positive notices, and offered the praise "cheerfully vulgar".[12]
The New Yorker's Anthony Lane was particularly severe; in addition to hating the film, he dismissed Murphy's playing of multiple characters as "minstrelling", and charged the actor with "at once feeding us what we like and despising us for swallowing it."[13]
Roger Ebert gave the film three stars, noting that while it was "raucous" and "scatological," the film overall proved to be "very funny" and "never less than amazing."[14]
Variety's Joe Leydon wrote: "Be prepared to laugh less at a lot more of the same thing in this overbearing but underwhelming sequel."[15]
In the UK, the BBC's Ceefax service gave the film a mixed review. Remarked the unnamed critic who reviewed the film for the teletext service:
This sequel is disappointing and inferior to the 1996 original, but it still provides exuberant fun. The effects are so seamless and Eddie Murphy's performances as the Klumps so distinct from one another, that you really do forget it's all one actor. Janet Jackson will never be a great actress, but she pulls off her role with natural skill, something Madonna lacks to an embarrassing degree. The film's weakness is in its failure to fully realise the potential of some of its own best jokes. A restaurant scene mostly misfires simply because a lot of the dialogue is incomprehensible and the characters all talk over each other. In the original, Buddy Love was funny and charismatic. Here, he's a loud irritant, so it's just as well that the film focuses on the other Klumps.[16]
