397. The Nutty Professor (1963)

Running Time: 107 minutes
Directed By: Jerry Lewis
Written By: Jerry Lewis and Bill Richmond
Main Cast: Jerry Lewis, Stella Stevens, Del Moore, Kathleen Freeman, Howard Morris
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A DOUBLE SHOT OF LEWIS: 1 of 2

We go from a very serious thriller to a very corny comedy, in Jerry Lewis' 1963 comedy, "The Nutty Professor". I can't say that I enjoyed it any more than Eddie Murphy's 1996 remake, but it was fun while it lasted.

Professor Julius Kelp (Lewis) is a chemistry professor at a local university, whose experiments sometimes end in disaster. One afternoon, when a student of Julius' asks permission to go to football practice and is denied, Julius gets a little roughed up. When he is attended to by his blonde bombshell of a classmate (Stevens), he is infatuated by her, but embarrassed at the same time. Julius then makes it a point to get more "buff", heading to the gym to try his crack at weightlifting. When that fails, Julius turns to chemistry and some time later, concocts a potion that will turn him from a sniveling nerd into a Dean Martin like, love machine. His alter ego is named Buddy Love and is the desire of all the ladies, especially the ones who frequent the local nightclub, The Purple Pit. But Buddy has his sights on Stella, using obnoxious lines and oozing with self confidence. However, the potion doesn't last forever and each night when Buddy finds himself at The Purple Pit, he also finds that the concoction wears off and he's always forced to run out in a hurry. The climax comes when both Buddy Love and Julius Kelp are expected to be at the university prom.

Do colleges really have proms? I don't know, anyway, this wasn't too bad. I enjoyed certain smaller segments more than I enjoyed the picture as a whole. I had never seen a Jerry Lewis film before and I must say he was really meant to be an entertainer. He was good looking, funny and had a definite screen presence. The rest of the cast was fine too, with the beautiful Stella Stevens in for a bit of eye candy (did you know she was the January 1960 Playboy Playmate of the Month) and Del Moore, who I think got just as many laughs out of me as Lewis did. I had a hard time really enjoying this one as much as I thought I should have though. As much as I laughed, I just couldn't help thinking how corny and cheap the whole affair felt. Lewis (as Buddy Love) seemed to be creating himself a vehicle to be cool and suave and maybe even poke a little fun at former partner, Dean Martin.

There were plenty of laugh out loud ("lol" to the kids) moments in there for me though, which is odd for me, considering that it really takes a lot to get me to really laugh. I nearly busted a gut when Lewis forced Del Moore onto the table, pants around his ankles and coerced him into quoting Hamlet. Despite my maximum level of laughter though, I'll take W.C. Fields over Jerry Lewis any 'ol day of the week. Granted, they're not really that comparable, but just saying.

RATING: 6.5/10 Shorter review style working? Anyway, I could see this one growing on me with time, but to make the next TOP 20 it's gonna' have to grow fast. 8 to go!

MOVIES WATCHED: 393
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 608

January 10, 2012 6:13pm