Film Review
By far the best of Jerry Lewis's film comedies after his split with Dean
Martin in the early 1960s,
The Nutty Professor
shows the legendary goofy comedian at his most inventive and manically exuberant, as both a
director and performer. An imaginative (and frequently hilarious)
reworking of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic short story
The Strange Case of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the film is boldly evocative of the era in
which it was made (through its toe-tapping songs and almost psychedelically garish
sets). It also delivers a cogent moral, namely that character is what
matters most, not external appearances. It is the kind of
harmless but enjoyably daft comedy that never goes out of fashion.
Jerry Lewis appears to have most fun playing a grotesquely inept science professor (the
film might have worked better if the character wasn't quite so
exaggerated) but he is funnier in the guise of his strutting peacock
alter ego, Buddy Love. Lewis later denied that the latter was
based on Dean Martin, although the uncanny resemblance between his former team
mate and the smooth, swaggering hipster is inescapable. Forget
the crass 1996 Eddie Murphy remake; the original
Nutty Professor is superior in just
about every respect, unless you have a pathological phobia of Jerry
Lewis. Lewis saves the best gag right to the end - if this
doesn't get you to laugh yourself out of your seat, nothing will.
© James Travers 2012
The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Professor Julius Kelp is an accident-prone and socially inept chemistry
professor at an American university. When he is picked upon by
one of his more muscular students, Kelp makes up his mind to build
himself up, but his visits to the gym prove disastrous. He then
has the idea of inventing a formula that will change his
appearance. Kelp's experiment proves a success - he is no longer
the buck-toothed weirdo but a self-confident, strutting swinger, with a
personality that no one (male or female) can resist. In his new
persona, which he christens Buddy Love, Kelp makes an easy conquest of
Stella Purdy, one of his students - she cannot help herself falling in love with him, even
though she finds him rude and abrasive. Unfortunately, the
formula only lasts for a limited time, which causes no end of
embarrassment for Kelp as he is forced to make a hasty departure at the
most awkward moments...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.