Nutty Professor II

In spite of his crude and often stereotypical humor, I have always found Eddie Murphy to be extremely entertaining. However, The Nutty Professor II failed to meet the high expectations I had for it. Although there were several funny sequences, this movie basically rehashed the original.

THE PLOT... The plot is basically the same as the original movie. The venerable Professor Klump struggles against his arch-nemesis, Buddy Love. However, Buddy Love is a product of the Professor's own DNA. In the original movie, Buddy Love attempted to take over the Professor's identity by drinking the "secret formula" and maintaining his appearance as the professors alter-ego. In the sequel, Buddy Love attempts to surface through Professor Klump's sub-conscious, causing him to seek a radical gene-extraction formula to rid himself of Buddy Love forever. However, the experiment backfires, and Buddy Love generates himself out of scientific goo and the DNA from a dog hair. As extreme and unlikely as this plot is, the comedy centers around Professor Klump again trying to outsmart his alter-ego, to maintain control of the NEW "secret formula." By the way, the new formula rejuvenates age (the Fountain of Youth) and a pharmaceutical giant is offering the $150 Million for the formula. Of course, Buddy Love is willing to undersell at a mere $149 Million.

THE LOVE CONNECTION... Professor Klump must really have great charisma, because both movies feature his relationship with a true hottie. This time, Janet Jackson captivates his dreams (she also conducted the research that led to his development of the new formula...so she is intelligent as well as beautiful). Professor Klump attempts to court this intelligent and capable colleague, while battling the conniving Buddy Love. Of course, the good guy finally ends up with the girl. There is a nice scene where Professor Klump proposes to his dream girl by spraying pheromones on lightning bugs, causing them to light up his message.

MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER... How does Eddie Murphy manage to keep his characters straight? I imagine that he must REALLY get into character. His ability to believably portray a variety of characters has always amazed me. Especially the Jewish guy in "Coming to America." However, the characters were very one-dimensional and relied on the success of the first movie. Professor Klump's mother clapped her hands i the first movie and said "Hercules, Hercules." She does it a dozen more times in the sequel, saying "Billy Dee" or any other host of names that come to mind. The grandmother is nastier, and talks incessantly about sex. The father starts a fire at the All-You-Can-Eat restaurant, by farting. The brother complains about everything. There was very little new material here.

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