The Nutty Professor

Rick Baker's Oscar-worthy make-up transforms Eddie Murphy into 400-pound professor Sherman Klump, his partying alter-ego Buddy Love and all the members of Klump's obese family. This remake of Jerry Lewis's 1963 Jekyll and Hyde masterwork was rapturously received by critics and audiences, ending some rather lean years for Murphy. So am I the only one who thought this a major disappointment? The "dick" jokes and gratuitous farting roundelay that makes the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles look like a Merchant-Ivory sequence overwhelm the sweetly-played love story between Klump and grad student Miss Perty (Jada Pinkett). But this is the bona-fide comeback for which Murphy fans have long waited, and at this price, it would be nutty not to add it to your library. (K. Lee Benson)