The Nutty Professor(1996)
Universal Pictures Jun 28, 1996 | Wide
Grossly overweight yet good-hearted professor Sherman Klump takes a special chemical that turns him into the slim but obnoxious Buddy Love.
Releases
Original Release | Jun 28, 1996
30th Anniversary Re-release | Sep 4, 2026
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Box Office Results
Updated as of Aug 08, 2026 04:57 PM ET
All Releases (2)
$128,814,019
$145,147,000
$273,961,019
$120,602,680
$120,602,680
Current Showtimes
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- Sun Aug 9
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Director & Top Cast
Technical Specifications
Sound Mix: DTS,DTS-Stereo
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Other Details
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English
Summaries
Plot Summary
- Lance Perkins (Eddie Murphy) is hosting an exercise program on TV for overweight people. At the Wellman College, thousands of hamsters are overrunning the entire campus, causing general chaos. This is due to the obese, yet loving and kind-heart, Professor Sherman Klump (Eddie Murphy) accidentally releasing them by grazing the switch that opens the hamster's cages.The problem having been contained, Sherman is given an update by his assistant, Jason (John Ales), about their latest project an experimental formula that reconstructs the DNA of an obese person to make weight-loss easy. It seems that their fattest hamster, Shelley, has lost 3 ounces, proving that the serum works. Jason suggests increasing the amount Shelley is fed, but the ever-kindly Sherman argues against it, saying it could be dangerous.He then has an unpleasant meeting with Dean Richmond (Larry Miller). The Dean tells him that the incident with the hamsters has cost the science department most of its funding. Harlan Hartley (James Coburn) is the school's last remaining wealthy alumnus and is planning to award a $10 million grant to the college.After class, Sherman meets and instantly falls in love with Carla Purty (Jada Pinkett), a chemistry graduate student who is a big fan of his work. Sherman had dinner with his obese, impolite family including father Cletus, mother Anna Pearl Jensen-Klump, Anna's mother Ida Mae Jensen and Sherman's older brother Ernie (all of whom are also portrayed by Murphy).After noticing that he's taking very small amounts of food from the table, Sherman reveals that he's trying to watch his weight and avoid the calories. His father, Cletus, scoffs him, believing that there's nothing wrong with being fat and that while Sherman can do whatever he can, he'll never get rid of his fat. After his mother, Anna, brings up Colon Cleansing she saw about on T.V., Cletus starts his habit of randomly passing gas, much to the humor of Ernie Sr. and Jr., but to the disgust of Sherman, Grandma, and Anna.Sherman is hurt by the comments Cletus makes, but Anna, tells him that he is "beautiful inside and out," saying that he can do anything if he just believes in himself. This prompts Sherman to attempt to ask Carla out on a date, which she accepts, much to his surprise.While watching Lance Perkins on TV giving one his speeches of motivation, Sherman falls asleep and dreams he is making out with Carla on a beach, but she gets buried in the sand by his weight. Sherman is motivated, full of energy, and is determined to lose some weight. A Rocky-style montage ensues, showing Sherman trying various methods to get fit before the big date.At the date, it begins well with Carla showing admiration for Sherman's work, but Sherman falls victim to the club's wicked comic Reggie Warrington (Dave Chappelle), who attacks him with cruel jokes about his obesity. Back at Carla's home with tears in his eyes, a deeply hurt and humiliated Sherman says goodbye to his date. Carla insults Reggie for what he did to him and tells Sherman that he is brilliant. Sherman tells her to have a pleasant evening and shakes her hand.At home, completely depressed, he has a nightmare in which he becomes a giant with Reggie being present insulting him again, his mother offering him fried chicken, and his father supporting his fat weight. He lays waste to the city with just a single fart, which is then accidentally lit on fire. When he awakens, he yields to the temptation to try the serum on himself. It works, as he loses 250 pounds in seconds. Overwhelmed he goes out and buys many normal size clothing (mainly spandex) as a celebration. He initially celebrates the weight loss but later finds the effects of the serum are only temporary.Dubbing himself Buddy Love (Eddie Murphy), he invites Carla out on a date at the same club again while the serum begins to wear off. Carla later tells Sherman about Buddy and Sherman encourages her to go out with him.Reggie is present again, and Buddy takes revenge and heckles him mercilessly largely by targeting Reggie's "mama" with fat jokes similar to the ones Reggie pelted him with. During this Buddy develops a personality of his own as the high testosterone levels causes him to be overly assertive and confident. Finally angered, Reggie tries challenging Buddy to a Karate match, but he is once again overpowered as he performs Minnie Riperton's 1975 hit Lovin' You on the piano for Carla, and forces Reggie to perform her signature high-pitched squeal. Buddy then proceeds to stuff Reggie into the piano.Sherman's "Buddy" persona starts to develop an independent personality due to the heightened testosterone levels of the transformation, gradually changing from his regular good-nature self to perverted, arrogant and cruel. This transformation is seen by Sherman's lab assistant, Jason.He gives a waiter a credit card to pay for the meal. Buddy and Carla then share a kiss. Immediately after, the serum begins to wear off and Buddy makes a quick exit, attributing it to an allergic reaction to Carla's lipstick (the 'bulking up' beginning with his lower lip, and his midsection begins to swell up). Jason happens to be at the bar and notes that the card Buddy is using belongs to Sherman. He follows Buddy into the sports car to confront him, only to learn Sherman's secret when he discovers him in mid-transformation, culminating in Sherman's having to be cut out of the car when he becomes too big to use the door.The next morning, Sherman is very late for a class and his students have all left. The Dean Richmond ((Larry Miller), however, is there and he confronts Sherman about the sports car, which Buddy bought on Sherman's faculty account. The Dean threatens to strangle Sherman and asks him to meet Hartley (James Coburn) at a hotel restaurant called The Ritz to describe the weight-loss serum.Later, in the lab, Jason tells Sherman that he can't control Buddy, whose testosterone levels keep rising per transformation, as Buddy acted the exact opposite of who Sherman, and Buddy is now becoming an independent personality instead of a thin Sherman.Later, Carla talks to Sherman about her date with Buddy and Sherman takes the opportunity to ask Carla to dinner with his family, who promptly embarrass him by making various suggestive comments about their relationship, his grandmother especially pushing the question on whether or not they're having relations, and that there's nothing wrong to admitting if they are, calling it a beautiful thing. Cletus farts again. His confidence low and, after Carla mentions that she would like the opportunity to get to know the caring person she sometimes sees in Buddy's eyes, he uses the serum again.Sherman arrives at The Ritz as Buddy Love with Carla. When the dean spots him, Carla asks Buddy if he will take Sherman's place. With the Dean desperate to get the grant, he allows Buddy to talk to Hartley. He does, and he takes all the credit of his work to Hartley much to Carla's shock and outrage. Hartley and the dean are very impressed with his work, and the dean invites him to the alumni ball.Carla catches Buddy flirting with three women and dumps him out of disgust. Undaunted, he throws a loud party at Sherman's house that night, burning all the health food products in the fridge. Having transformed back to his normal self during the night, Sherman awakens to find himself surrounded by strange women. He has no memory of the previous night and is stunned to find the whole house in disarray.Carla arrives shortly thereafter to tell Sherman that she has left Buddy and to apologize about her encouraging Buddy to talk to Hartley. Carla finds the reverted Sherman with the women and breaks off their friendship as well. To add to Sherman's problems as he chases after her, he finds an eviction notice taped to his front door by his unseen grouchy downstairs neighbor and landlord, Mr. Wilson, owing to all the noise Buddy and the party had made during the night.After the falling out with Carla and Richmond gleefully telling Sherman that Buddy will be taking his place at the Alumni Ball, which means that Sherman is effectively fired from his job.At home, depressed, Sherman accidentally activates the VCR, where Buddy has left a message taunting Sherman and encouraging him to take the serum once again. This inspires Sherman to take his life back, resolved to prove that he can defeat Buddy. Sherman, having had enough of his alter ego, destroys all of the serum samples. However, Buddy, having anticipated this, has laced a sample of the serum in one of Sherman's diet shake cans, which Sherman drinks, causing him to transform into Buddy again. Jason that he has calculated that if he drinks 500 ml of the serum, he will have enough cellular stability to be thin forever, thus "killing" Sherman. However, he cannot drink all of that serum at once, as it would (literally) kill Sherman and therefore Buddy, too. Buddy, however, has a plan to drink 250 ml of the serum while still in the lab and the other 250 at the alumni ball.Sherman's young assistant Jason (John Ales) tries to stop him from going to the ball, but Buddy knocks him out and departs.At the ball, Buddy demonstrates the effects of the serum to the audience, but Jason arrives in time, as he has found out that Buddy's testosterone levels are at a lethally high 60,000%. Buddy plans to drink the serum to get rid of Sherman permanently, resulting in a fight between the two identities.The two of them get into a brief fist fight, but Sherman begins to fight Buddy from within. Sherman eventually transforms into his regular self and tells the alumni that he was wrong for what he did, that Buddy was who he thought he (and everybody else) wanted him to be, and that he should accept himself for who he is.As he leaves, Carla stops him and asks why he lied. He says he did not believe that she would accept him, but she says it doesn't matter if he is overweight or not. Carla forgives Sherman and invites him to dance with her. Jason presents Sherman with a tuxedo that will fit him. Richmond rehires Sherman and Hartley, impressed by Sherman's brilliance and genuine nature, donates the grant to Wellman. Sherman's mother cheers him on as he dances with Carla.
Storyline
- Brilliant 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. Though he instantly loses 250 pounds, the side effects include a second personality: an obnoxiously self-assertive braggart who calls himself Buddy Love. Buddy proves to be more popular than Sherman, but his arrogance and bad behavior quickly spiral out of control. — Jwelch5742 More than anything in the world, timid Dr Sherman Klump, a rotund geneticist with a heart of gold, wants to shed the extra weight to win chemistry graduate Carla Purty's affection. Too self-conscious about his obesity to make a move, Klump summons up the courage to take a sip of his unstable, highly experimental weight-loss potion, only to transform into something utterly unexpected: the handsome, lean, arrogant philanderer Buddy Love. As Buddy tries to woo defenceless Carla, inner Sherman must do everything in his power to thwart the obnoxious suitor's plans. But can the nutty professor stop his super-confident alter-ego before he gets the girl? — Nick Riganas Extremely obese yet kindly man Sherman Klump is a man of science on the breakthrough of a renovative science experiment. Unfortunately, the only problem is that he wants to lose weight but can't stop eating. But when he falls in love with a new colleague named Carla Purty, Sherman develops a formula to make himself look thinner. Every time he turns thin after drinking the potion, Sherman names himself Buddy Love, who is the rude doppelganger of himself. Now Sherman must find a way to control his thin self before all hell breaks loose and Buddy takes over. Sherman Klump is an incredibly fat and good-hearted man. He is a college professor on the verge of a breakthrough in DNA restructuring when he meets an admirer of his, named Carla, who is a teacher new to Klump's college. He is enamored of her, but is frustrated by his tremendous bulk. He then decides to test a formula on which he's been working on himself. He is then transformed into the lecherous swinger, Buddy Love, and romantic complications ensue. — Philip Brubaker <coda@nando.net> 1 more See all
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