The Nutty Professor (1996/HD-DVD)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: D Film: C-
The
original Jerry Lewis Nutty Professor
is at least a minor comedy classic and one of Lewis’ most personal films. The idea of Eddie Murphy remaking it seemed
like a stretch beyond any silicone or latex that he would eventually wear in
the 1996 remake directed by the not-so-hot Tom Shadyac, but the remake became a
big hit and even spawned an awkward sequel.
The idea
of a 400-pound professor (Lewis was just a nerd in his version) becoming a
ladies’ man thanks to his own special “love potion No. 9” had great potential
and a better director could have made a truly charming remake, but hack Shadyac
joined Murphy in his predictably tired, gross-out humor that can make money,
but continues to ruin Murphy’s consideration for roles of growth like Dreamgirls.
Can his
Prof. Klump land Jada Pinkett? Even she
is a plus in the cast, as is the late James Coburn, Larry Miller and Dave
Chappelle. Unfortunately, Rick Baker’s
too-familiar make-up work is one of the few things that do not age badly. For Murphy fans, this was a logical expansion
of the more interesting work in the better hit Coming To America that ended his first cycle as a big box-office
star. Here, he was suddenly family-safe
and that might be part of the problem.
If the
film had more of a heart and edge and the screenplay (by four credited writers
including Shadyac) was smarter, this would have held up better, but then it was
never that great to begin with. Like the
Dr. Dolittle revival and Haunted Mansion (reviewed on Blu-ray
elsewhere on this site), this Nutty
Professor is just a shell of the original.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image looks like an older HD transfer, with
tampering to improve the image that backfires.
Julio Macat’s cinematography helps the make-up, but this is just an
average-looking competent commercial film at best. The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mix is nothing
special and was never that impressive in DTS to begin with. There are no extras despite a bunch of them
on standard DVD.
- Nicholas Sheffo
