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Eddie Murphy hit a bullseye with The Nutty Professor, his affectionate and clever re-thinking of the classic 1966 Jerry Lewis comedy, in which Murphy plays no less than six different characters. Instead of being the buck-toothed, nearsighted nerd that Jerry Lewis created, Murphy chose to make Professor Sherman Klump an outsider from society simply by making him fat.
Klump is a brilliant scientist whose personal life is pretty much non-existent, partially because of his weight and probably also due to the fact that his family probably scares off most potential girlfriends. Murphy also plays Sherman's mother, father, brother, and grandmother. There is one amazing scene, thanks to some remarkable editing, that takes place at the Klump dinner table, where Murphy is actually playing five of the six people at the table.
It is not only masterful editing and camera-work but an astonishing testament to the genius that is Eddie Murphy, being able to create five distinct characters and have them realistically communicate with each other, but Eddie's strongest work in the film really is the character of Sherman...a warm and endearing character who evokes so much love and sympathy that there are moments where you will be close to shedding a tear for him.
Despite the Academy's snobbery about comedy films, Eddie's work in this film is Oscar-calibre. Jada Pinkett Smith is lovely as his leading lady and Larry Miller garners big laughs as the dean of the university where Sherman works. The film did win an Oscar for Rick Baker's remarkable work in transforming Eddie into six different characters, and yes, that is also Eddie playing Richard Simmons on TV. A triumph to the genius of Eddie Murphy.
Eddie Murphy hit a bullseye with The Nutty Professor, his affectionate and clever re-thinking of the classic 1966 Jerry Lewis comedy, in which Murphy plays no less than six different characters. Instead of being the buck-toothed, nearsighted nerd that Jerry Lewis created, Murphy chose to make Professor Sherman Klump an outsider from society simply by making him fat.
Klump is a brilliant scientist whose personal life is pretty much non-existent, partially because of his weight and probably also due to the fact that his family probably scares off most potential girlfriends. Murphy also plays Sherman's mother, father, brother, and grandmother. There is one amazing scene, thanks to some remarkable editing, that takes place at the Klump dinner table, where Murphy is actually playing five of the six people at the table.
It is not only masterful editing and camera-work but an astonishing testament to the genius that is Eddie Murphy, being able to create five distinct characters and have them realistically communicate with each other, but Eddie's strongest work in the film really is the character of Sherman...a warm and endearing character who evokes so much love and sympathy that there are moments where you will be close to shedding a tear for him.
Despite the Academy's snobbery about comedy films, Eddie's work in this film is Oscar-calibre. Jada Pinkett Smith is lovely as his leading lady and Larry Miller garners big laughs as the dean of the university where Sherman works. The film did win an Oscar for Rick Baker's remarkable work in transforming Eddie into six different characters, and yes, that is also Eddie playing Richard Simmons on TV. A triumph to the genius of Eddie Murphy.