The Nutty Professor II - The Klumps

Rick Baker is an amazing makeup artist. After all, he is the man behind all the ghoulish characters in Michael Jackson’s Thriller. So it’s no wonder that the moviegoer forgets he is watching one person play six parts rather than six individual actors.

There’s not much to say about Eddie Murphy that hasn’t already been said. He’s a great actor - and a very patient one at that. Having to endure hours in the makeup chair and then only being able to play one role a day - well, that’s just not something I would ever have the patience to endure. While the movie itself is humorous, it does not live up to the promise and payoff of the first.

This movie is very funny, don’t get me wrong. But what made the first one work so well was that it fed directly off of the original that it was a remake of - the one with the great Jerry Lewis. It would not have been nearly as effective if it didn’t have that to back it up. Which brings us to the sequel of the remake. Conceiving it totally out of the popularity of the wacky Klumps in the first movie, the producers hoped to strike it rich twice in a row. But we all know that lightning rarely strikes twice, and utilizing the same premise with a weaker plot just didn’t pan out.

Wait for the video, folks.

Rating:  * * 1/2