2000, PG-13, 110 minutes

Given that Nutty Professor II: The Klumps is merely a sequel to a remake of a Jerry Lewis movie, it's hard to expect very much. In the surprise hit of 1996, Eddie Murphy delivered a good enough performance (playing several different characters) to earn himself best actor honors from the National Society of Film Critics. However, it wasn't just Murphy's comedic talent that made the film a success, it was the compelling story it told and the manner in which it did so. And while the sequel delivers yet another brilliant performance from the ever-so-versatile Murphy, as well as a few big laughs, the contrived and ultimately dull story is what makes this film a disappointment.

Just as we saw in the first film, Eddie Murphy plays a majority of the main characters, but primarily the lovable and overweight Professor Klumps. This time Klumps has used his natural genius to invent an age defying serum, where the patient becomes considerably younger in age. At the same time, however, Klumps is fighting off Buddy Love -- the loud, obnoxious, and endlessly horny part of himself that desperately wants to roam free again. Love's brief but constant appearances also cause problems in his potential relationship with Denice (Janet Jackson), another teacher at the college. Wanting to rid himself of Buddy Love once and for all, Professor Klumps takes drastic action, which of course, leads to disastrous results.

Although The Klumps has all of the same sweet characters and a story-line that plays like a slightly distorted clone of its predecessor, many of the jokes fall flat and the repeated flatulence humor gets tiresome about half way through. The film starts off solid and had me thinking it might be even better than the first one, but then the story becomes convoluted and the level of charm takes a significant dive. By the very end, everything that must happen in order for the plot to continue--does, which makes the story extremely predictable. Also -- and this is definitely my biggest problem with the entire plot -- the big solution that Klumps spends a large portion of the film searching for is completely obvious. Even worse, another character figures this out shortly after Klumps does, and manages to do so with a mere twenty seconds of consideration. So much for the brilliant Professor, I guess.

The one extraordinarily bright aspect of this film is, of course, Eddie Murphy. Like no other actor in history, Murphy can portray multiple characters with distinct personalities in such a way that the makeup doesn't even matter. By the time the audience settles into the story, they'll completely forget that in many of the scenes there is actually only one actor present. He manages to bring life to each character he plays and quite often does so in situations where he has no one to act off of other than himself. These people seem as real as if they were each being played by a different cast member, and to be able to pull off that kind of magic takes an incredible amount of ability. It's really a shame in this case that the story in which Murphy's characters exist wasn't more fulfilling.

As for Janet Jackson (who looks quite nice with a little extra meat on her bones), she gives a pretty solid performance considering her character is more of a plot piece than a person. This film must've been a somewhat difficult task for Jackson, because in many of the scenes it was nearly impossible for her to maintain attention with all of the other bizarre characters around. Still, in the end, she does the role justice.

Nutty Professor II: The Klumps is a film that will be enjoyed by big fans of never-ending fart jokes (primarily younger audiences) and it certainly has a few moments that are bound to make even the most cynical moviegoers laugh. However, if you liked the first movie for more than Eddie Murphy showcasing his talent, you'll probably be a bit disappointed by the over-emphasis on the plot, which isn't exactly its strong point.