The Nutty Professor franchise consists of American science fiction-slapstick comedies,[1][2][3] including three theatrical films, one straight-to-home video release, a musical stage play, and a theatrical reboot in development. Based on an original story by Jerry Lewis, inspired loosely by Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson.
| The Nutty Professor | |
|---|---|
 Official franchise logo, as released in 2000 | |
| Based on | Characters created by Jerry Lewis |
Release date | 1963–present |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ~$146,630,000 (Total of 3 films) |
| Box office | ~$459,300,909 (Total of 3 films)[a] |
The plot of each installment centers around individuals with genius-level Intelligence, yet awkward and nerdy social skills. Upon meeting beautiful women, they develop potions that transform them into attractive, confident, albeit villainous alternate personalities who attempt to take over their original counterparts. The series explores the concept of self worth.[4][5][6][7]
The original film was a success both critically and financially, and has earned the status of being regarded as a comedy classic.[8] It was ranked #99 by the American Film Institute on its 100 Years...100 Laughs list.[9] A direct-sequel was eventually released in 2008, albeit an animated straight-to-home video release. Lewis reprised his role, though the movie centered around his grandson instead. The film gained little media attention and received mainly negative reviews from critics.[10] Lewis continued involvement with the franchise as executive producer for the remake film and its sequel and then later served as director of a musical stage production in 2012.[11]
The remake starring Eddie Murphy and released in 1996, was a success at the box office and received positive reviews from critics.[12][13] A sequel was released in 2000 to mixed critical reception. Though it fared well financially, it was far from the success of its predecessor.[14][15][16]
A reboot is in development, from Project X Entertainment.[17]
Film
edit| Film | U.S. release date | Director(s) | Screenwriter(s) | Story by | Producer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Nutty Professor | June 4, 1963 | Jerry Lewis | Jerry Lewis & Bill Richmond | Ernest D. Glucksman and Arthur P. Schmidt | |
| The Nutty Professor | June 28, 1996 | Tom Shadyac | David Sheffield & Barry W. Blaustein and Tom Shadyac & Steve Oedekerk |
Brian Grazer and Russell Simmons | |
| Nutty Professor II: The Klumps | July 28, 2000 | Peter Segal | David Sheffield & Barry W. Blaustein and Paul Weitz & Chris Weitz |
Steve Oedekerk and David Sheffield & Barry W. Blaustein |
Brian Grazer |
| The Nutty Professor: Facing the Fear | November 25, 2008 | Logan McPherson & Paul Taylor |
Evan Spiliotopoulos | George Paige and Barbara Zelinski | |
| Untitled reboot | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | James Vanderbilt, William Sherak and Paul Neinstein |
The Nutty Professor (1963)
editProfessor Julius Kelp is a brilliant science teacher, at a university. However, he has a problem with attracting women due to his clumsy, awkward, inarticulate nature. Women deem him as unattractive. Kelp becomes obsessed with impressing a beautiful student named Stella. With his background in chemistry, Kelp decides to develop a potion that will change him into a different person. His new suave alter ego named Buddy Love, is challenged with winning Stella's affections before his short-supply of potion is depleted.[18]
Film historians regard The Nutty Professor as the most memorable film of Lewis’ long career. In 2004, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."[19]
The Nutty Professor (1996)
editBrilliant and obese scientist Sherman Klump invents a miraculous weight-loss solution. After a date with chemistry student Carla Purty goes badly, a depressed Klump tries the solution on himself. Upon taking the potion, Klump instantly loses 250 pounds. The side effects, besides becoming physically fit include a second personality who calls himself Buddy Love and is obnoxiously self-assertive, conceited alternate personality. Buddy proves to be more popular than Sherman, but his arrogance and bad behavior quickly spiral out of control. During these series of events, Klump must decide whether he enjoys popularity, or values self-respect.[20]
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000)
editAfter choosing to love himself, over his popular and assertive alternate personality, Professor Sherman Klump has found love in a beautiful and kind woman named Denise. In preparations for their wedding, his undesired alter-ego named Buddy Love begins taking over. Though Klump has ceased taking his self-improving potion, Love continues to present himself and is determined to stay. After a number of appearances, Klump extracts his alternate personality's genes and decides rid the world of his pesky partner, at the risk of his own psychological decline. A laboratory incident including the accidental combination of the genes with dog hair, result in Buddy Love taking on his own existence outside of Klump's body. Unaware of the Love's new existence, the engaged couple begin to perfect a new rejuvenation formula and their fortune seems assured, until Love appears and steals it. Professor Klump's cognitive abilities continue to decline. In a final effort to defeat Buddy Love, the Professor develops a new and more potent formula that will degenerate the villain back to his state of genetic material. Using Love's canine DNA against him, he defeats him with the use of a tennis ball covered in the new potion. As Klump slips away, Denise helps him drink the genetic matter, restoring his genius intellect and resetting everything back to normal. The pair continue to prepare for their wedding, and are married.[21]
The Nutty Professor: Facing the Fear (2008)
editReleased as an animated movie, it serves as a legacy-sequel to the original film, it follows the workings of Julius Kelp's grandson.
Harold Kelp is an aspiring inventor, who struggles to perfect his experiments. Intimidated by his grandfather's legacy, Harold has dreams of his failure taking the form of a giant monster. After coming into conflict with a group of angry individuals involved in one of his demonstrations, Harold decides to attend a science academy run by his grandfather, Professor Julius Kelp. Upon arriving at the school, Harold meets a beautiful woman named Polly McGreggor, with whom he becomes infatuated. Determined to win her affection, Harold finds and takes his grandfather's secret potion. The elixir unleashes Harold's confident, self-loving alternate personality that calls himself Jack. Though initially popular with the fellow students, Jack's outrageous behavior gets out of control and causes more mischief than Harold had anticipated. Due to Harold's continued time evolving into Jack, his grades begin slipping. Learning of Harold's actions, Julius once again takes the potion to become Buddy Love. In his alternate form as Buddy Love, Julius teaches his grandson to appreciate who he is and to be comfortable in his own skin. Harold's anxieties are accidentally unleashed by one of Professor Kelp's inventions, as the visionary monster from his nightmares. Harold bravely faces his fears, and defeats the creature. In doing so, Harold says goodbye to Jack once and for all before sharing a kiss with Polly.[22]
Reboot
editIn August 2020, it was announced that a reboot of The Nutty Professor franchise was in development. James Vanderbilt, William Sherak and Paul Neinstein serve as producers, while the search for additional talent is ongoing. The movie is under development from Project X Entertainment.[17][23][19]
Main cast and characters
editKey
- A dark gray cell indicates the character did not appear in that film.
- A V indicates the actor or actress lent only their voice for their character.
- A Y indicates an actor or actress portrayed a younger version of their character.
| Character | Film | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Nutty Professor (1963) | The Nutty Professor (1996) | Nutty Professor ll: The Klumps |
The Nutty Professor: Facing the Fear | ||
| Professor Julius Kelp Buddy Love |
Jerry Lewis | Jerry LewisV | |||
| Stella Purdy | Stella Stevens | ||||
| Dr. Mortimer Warfield | Del Moore | ||||
| Millie Lemmon | Kathleen Freeman | ||||
| Warzewski | Med Flory | ||||
| Mr. Elmer Kelp | Howard Morris | ||||
| Mrs. Edwina Kelp | Elvia Allman | ||||
| Professor Sherman Klump Buddy Love |
Eddie Murphy | Eddie Murphy Myles MasonY Jeffrey Michael FreemanY Maurice ColquittY Kevin Michael MondaneY |
|||
| Papa Cletus Klump | Eddie Murphy | ||||
| Mama Anna Klump | |||||
| Grandma Ida Mae Jenson | |||||
| Ernie Klump, Sr. | |||||
| Lance Perkins | |||||
| Ernie Klump, Jr. | Jamal Mixon | ||||
| Jason | John Ales | ||||
| Dean Richmond | Larry Miller | ||||
| Carla Purty | Jada Pinkett | ||||
| Reggie Warrington | Dave Chappelle | ||||
| Harlan Hartley | James Coburn | ||||
| Denise Gaines-Klump | Janet Jackson | ||||
| Leanne Guilford | Melinda McGraw | ||||
| Issac | Gabriel Williams | ||||
| Mr. Gaines | Richard Gant | ||||
| Mrs. Gaines | Anna Maria Horsford | ||||
| Harold Kelp Jack |
Drake BellV | ||||
| Robin | Tabitha St. GermainV | ||||
| Polly McGregor | Britt IrvinV | ||||
| Zeke | Logan McPhersonV | ||||
| Ned | |||||
| Brad | Andrew FrancisV | ||||
| Tad | |||||
| Fear | Logan McPhersonV | ||||
| Dean Von Wu | Brian DrummondV | ||||
Additional crew and production details
edit| Film | Crew/Detail | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer | Cinematographer | Editor(s) | Production companies |
Distributing company |
Running time | ||
| The Nutty Professor | Walter Scharf | W. Wallace Kelley | John Woodcock | Paramount Pictures, Jerry Lewis Films |
Paramount Pictures | 1hr 47mins | |
| The Nutty Professor | David Newman | Julio Macat | Don Zimmerman | Imagine Entertainment, Brian Grazer Productions, Tom Shadyac Films |
Universal Pictures | 1hr 35mins | |
| Nutty Professor II: The Klumps |
Dean Semler | William Kerr | Universal Pictures, Peter Segal Films, Imagine Entertainment, Brian Grazer Productions, Shady Acres Entertainment |
1hr 47mins | |||
| The Nutty Professor: Facing the Fear |
Mike Shields | James Boshier & Logan McPherson | Kaleidoscope TWC, Mainframe Entertainment Inc., The Weinstein Company |
Genius Products | 1hr 15mins | ||
| Untitled reboot | TBA | TBA | TBA | Project X Entertainment | TBA | [to be determined] | |
Reception
editBox office and financial performance
edit| Film | Box office gross | Box office ranking (per release year) |
Budget | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | Other territories | Worldwide | All time worldwide |
North America | |||
| The Nutty Professor (1963) | $13,343,056 | $5,656,944 | $19,000,000 | #23 | not available | $7,630,000 | [24][25][26][27] |
| The Nutty Professor (1996) | $128,814,019 | $145,147,000 | $273,961,019 | #8 | #8 | $55,000,000 | [28][29] |
| Nutty Professor II: The Klumps | $123,309,890 | $43,030,000 | $166,339,890 | #16 | #26 | $84,000,000 | [30][31] |
| The Nutty Professor: Facing the Fear | video sales/rentals not available |
video sales/rentals not available |
video sales/rentals not available |
not available | not available | not available | |
| Untitled reboot | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Totals | $265,466,965 | $193,833,944 | $459,300,909 | x̅ #11.75[b] | x̅ #8.5[c] | $146,630,000 | |
Notes
edit- ^ These figures are based on the available numbers for the theatrical films. Though there are a total four movies released, there is no financial information publicly available for the animated film.
- ^ This is an approximate average, based on the all-time standing of each theatrically released film.
- ^ This is an approximate average, based on the all-time standing of each theatrically released film.
Critical and public response
edit| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Nutty Professor (1963) | 85% (26 reviews)[citation needed] | — | — |
| The Nutty Professor (1996) | 64% (55 reviews)[citation needed] | 62/100 (20 reviews)[32] | A-[33] |
| Nutty Professor II: The Klumps | 26% (88 reviews)[citation needed] | 38/100 (34 reviews)[34] | A-[33] |
| The Nutty Professor: Facing the Fear | — | — | — |
Stage
editA musical comedy adaptation ran on Broadway after a tryout production that opened at the Nashville Tennessee Performing Arts Center from July to August 2012. Lewis directed the musical, with choreography by Joann M. Hunter. The musical has a book and lyrics written by Rupert Holmes and music composed by Marvin Hamlisch, with scenery by David Gallo and costumes by Ann Hould-Ward.[35][36] Michael Andrew was cast in the lead role as Professor Julius Kelp.[37] The plot closely follows the original film. The production received positive reviews for its choreography, songs, cast, set, and story.[38]
Novelization
editThe accompanying novel written by the author of the musical's script, Rupert Holmes, received praise for its use of comedy as well as for the meaningful underlying message.[39]
References
edit- ^ Konow, David (January 25, 2023). "The Untold Truth Of The Nutty Professor". Looper. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
- ^ Reesman, Bryan (June 17, 2014). "11 Things You Didn't Know About The Nutty Professor". Esquire. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
- ^ Morgan, Chris (August 19, 2024). "20 facts you might not know about 'The Nutty Professor'". Yardbarker. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
- ^ Cohen, Herbert J. (July 5, 2015). "The Nutty Professor (1963), directed by Jerry Lewis". Kosher Movies. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^ Daniels, Alexandria. "3 Valuable Lessons Learned From 'The Nutty Professor'". Izzy & Liv: Culture.Confidence.Soul. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^ Mendelson, Scott (June 28, 2016). "20 Years Ago, 'The Nutty Professor' Brought Eddie Murphy Back By Destroying His Edgy Persona". Forbes. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^ Berardinelli, James (1996). "Nutty Professor, The (United States, 1996): A movie review". Reel Views. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^ Hoberman, J. (June 12, 2014). "Dino? Ol' Blue Eyes? All the Above, by Jerry". The New York Times. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^ "AFI's 100 YEARS...100 LAUGHS: The 100 Funniest American Movies Of All Time". American Film Institute. 2000. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^ "The Nutty Professor - Movie Review". Common Sense Media. 21 March 2009. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^ NG, David (August 2, 2012). "Jerry Lewis' 'Nutty Professor' musical opens in Nashville". LA Times. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^ Roger Ebert (June 28, 1996). "The Nutty Professor". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^ Gleiberman, Owen (June 28, 1996). "The Nutty Professor". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^ O'Hehir, Andrew (July 28, 2000). "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps". Salon. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^ Lane, Anthony. The New Yorker, August 7, 2000. The Fat of the Land (subscription required)
- ^ Leydon, Joe (July 27, 2000). "The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps". Variety. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^ a b Kroll, Justin (August 24, 2020). "New 'Nutty Professor' Movie In The Works From Project X's James Vanderbilt, William Sherak and Paul Neinstein". Deadline. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
- ^ Variety Staff (December 31, 1962). "The Nutty Professor (1962)". Variety. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
- ^ a b McNary, Dave (August 24, 2020). "'Nutty Professor' Reboot in the Works With 'Scream 5' Producers". Variety. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
- ^ Variety Staff (December 31, 1995). "The Nutty Professor". Variety. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
- ^ Leydon, Joe (July 27, 2000). "The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps". Variety. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
- ^ Herman, Joly (September 20, 2019). "The Nutty Professor Movie Review". Common Sense Media. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
- ^ Deadline Hollywood (August 24, 2020). "'NUTTY PROFESSOR' REBOOT IN THE WORKS WITH 'SCREAM 5' PRODUCERS". Project X Entertainment. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
- ^ Box office information for film in France at Box Office story
- ^ Dagan, Richard Natale, Carmel; Natale, Richard; Dagan, Carmel (August 20, 2017). "Jerry Lewis, Comedy Legend, Dies at 91".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Google Translate". translate.google.com.
- ^ "Top Rental Films of 1963", Variety, 8 January 1964, pg 37.
- ^ "The Nutty Professor (1996) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
- ^ "The Nutty Professor". Box Office Mojo.
- ^ "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps". Box Office Mojo.
- ^ "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
- ^ "The Nutty Professor" – via www.metacritic.com.
- ^ a b "Cinemascore :: Movie Title Search". CinemaScore.com. Archived from the original on 2018-12-20.
- ^ "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps" – via www.metacritic.com.
- ^ Jones, Kenneth. "Producers of Nutty Professor Hope to Earn Broadway Tenure for New Marvin Hamlisch-Rupert Holmes Show" Archived August 19, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Playbill, August 17, 2012, accessed August 19, 2013
- ^ Ng, David (2012-08-02). "Jerry Lewis' 'Nutty Professor' musical opens in Nashville". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
- ^ Broadway.com Staff (July 24, 2020). "Jerry Lewis' Broadway-Bound Nutty Professor Musical Begins Performances in Nashville". Broadway.com. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- ^ Ellis, Jeffrey (August 1, 2012). "BWW Reviews: THE NUTTY PROFESSOR Sets Its Sights on Broadway After Its Music City Opening". Broadway World. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- ^ Ruper Holmes (2012). "The Official Rupert Holmes Website & Resource Center". RupertHolmes.com. Retrieved November 10, 2020.