La famille Foldingue

How much one likes `The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps' depends on how much Eddie Murphy you can stand. After grossing more than $125 million at the box office, I would have to conclude that moviegoers couldn't get enough. This sequel is a one-man show built around a character skit from the first movie. Murphy plays eight different roles and gives a tour de force performance without the benefit of any story whatever. I got the impression that the writers were superfluous anyway, since Murphy was obviously ad libbing about 90% of the time.

The humor is lowbrow and delivers a good deal of physical comedy laced with sexual innuendo. Though Murphy's caricatures are consistently droll, they rely too much on unflattering stereotypes of blacks. The first dinner scene is a rehash of the dinner scene from the first film. After that scene, most of the film is a repetition of the same tired sight gags. Though Murphy's amusing electricity runs through every character, once the novelty wears off the film's appeal wears thin.

Kudos to the makeup department for an outstanding job on Murphy's various alter egos. Otherwise, the production of this film was nothing out of the ordinary. Larry Miller also gets a very honorable mention as the obnoxious Dean Richmond, getting his just deserts at the hands of a giant hamster.

This film has some laughs but not enough substance for a feature length movie. I rated it a 6/10. Add two or three points if you are an Eddie Murphy fan.

Frustrated by erratic and uncontrollable behavior at the hands of his troublesome alter ego, fed up Professor Sherman Klump undergoes a radical experiment that separates his personalities and allows scoundrel Buddy Love to become his own person. This time around they're battling each other for possession of invaluable scientific research which only further complicates matters in Sherman's personal life with colleague Jackson. Murphy, who's clearly having fun in his pull-out-all-the-stops portrayal of a horny grandmother, is as likable and energetic as he's ever been, but the script is awfully slim and throws out only a few genuinely funny ideas, which is a disappointment considering the impact of its predecessor. **

Eddie Murphy once again slaps on the fat suit to play Sherman Klump. And Mama Klump, and Big Daddy Klump, and Grandma Klump, and Brother Klump, and Buddy Love (although without the fat suit on that one). Since the Klump dinner scene was easily the best scene in the original film, they decided to focus on the entire family in the sequel. And somehow got Janet Jackson to fall in love with Sherman. I wish I knew how that happened. Anyway, while the movie still focuses on Sherman and his quest for love and scientific goals (this time making people younger), the rest of the family gets involved in the story lines. And I thought that took away from the heart of the film. While it was fun to see all the Murphy characters, there needed to be a better story line for them, rather than a bad marriage. Although I will admit the horny Grandmother Klump story line was very funny. They should make a movie just about her next time. But I regress. The story line with Sherman and Buddy, about how Buddy was still inside Sherman, and Sherman managed to get him out, only to have Buddy come to life, and then Sherman is becoming more stupid by the minute and will go into a vegetable state unless he eats Buddy. It's all very cheesy. I mean come on, one tear from Janet near the end manages to bring Sherman back to life? It was all very corny.

This is not to say that there aren't funny scenes in the movie. Again, I thought the best scene was the entire Klump family going out to dinner and all the hi-jinks that ensue. And there were other funny moments scattered throughout the film, but not enough for me to really get into the movie and enjoy it. Basically it was a moment to moment film, not an overall enjoyment film. Eddie Murphy is amazing, and Martin Lawrence has got nothing on dressing up as a fat woman, but it's just not enough. The Klumps is something you can rent for a quiet evening at home.

I loved the first film, it was funny and touching, and I feel it is underrated. This sequel is inferior, but I have honestly seen much worse sequels than this. There are some things wrong, such as the weak plot, uneven script, a slow beginning and uneven direction, but it is very amusing regardless. Thanks to some great sight gags such as the Fountain of Youth and the giant sex-mad hamster, another brilliant performance from Eddie Murphy and Janet Jackson very effective at playing it straight as the long suffering girlfriend. I also liked how it was filmed, and the score was lovely.

Overall, this is not a bad movie, not great, but not at all terrible.

6/10 Bethany Cox

This cannot measure up to the first film - the first with Eddie Murphy, that is, not the Jerry Lewis film from 1963. (Actually, this doesn't measure up to the Lewis film, either.)

For me, the biggest disappointment was the "family" scenes in which Murphy plays almost all the roles including old ladies. In the first film, some of that was absolutely hilarious, the highlight of the movie. Here, that isn't the case. Also, some of the dialog is almost impossible to decipher. It's also too raunchy and this film should have been rated "R." A PG-13 rating is ridiculous with all the emphasis on sex. I hate to see kids watch movies like this.

Still, this had a decent share of funny moments. Also, to its credit, it is not as mean-spirited as the first film turned out to be. Still, the bad outweighs the good. It needed to be funnier, and less raunchy.