Nutty Professor II film review

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NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS

Very little has changed since we last visited lovable science professor Sherman Klump (Eddie Murphy) and his dysfunctional kin. The portly prof is still working at Wellman College's biological research centre, under the aegis of despairing department head Dean Richmond (Larry Miller), and is now involved in the hush-hush development of a revolutionary youth serum.

Sherman is still acutely conscious of his size but his fiancee and colleague Denise Gaines (Janet Jackson) loves him just the way he is - all together now, aaaaah.

Our oversized hero's worst fears are realised when his villainous alter-ego Buddy Love begins to resurface from his subconscious, compelling Sherman to say things he doesn't mean and potentially threatening his wedding plans.

Determined to rid himself of his monstrous nemesis, Sherman utilises Denise's cutting edge genetics research to extract Buddy's DNA from his system. The procedure, untested on a human subject, seems to go smoothly, until Buddy bursts into Sherman's world, sabotages the youth serum project and lays claim to the professor's astounding and potentially lucrative invention.

But this is just the beginning of Sherman's problems. By jettisoning Buddy's DNA from his system, the professor inadvertently tampers with his brain functions. Within the space of a few hours, he will lose all of his mental acuity and be reduced to an inarticulate gibbering idiot. The effects are irreversible unless the missing DNA is injected back into his system.

Meanwhile, Mama and Papa Klump (Murphy times two) are desperately unhappy and in immediate need of a magic potion to revitalise their flagging sex life - if only they had a youth serum... hang on a minute! - while foul-mouthed Granny (Murphy again) continues to proposition any man in the neighbourhood foolish enough to stray into her orbit.

Pitifully thin on laughs, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps is proof positive of the law of diminishing returns of movie sequels. The film is essentially a one-man show, with Murphy grandstanding in each of his eight latex-clad guises, given free rein by director Peter Segal to blow everybody else off-screen.

May of the biggest laughs tend to get lost in the fast-paced banter between the various characters, who have a nasty habit of all talking at the same time, and some of Granny's best put-downs are inaudible beneath her mumbling - perhaps she needs a more effective denture adhesive.