The Nutty Professor (1998)
When The Nutty Professor came out in theaters, it was totally acceptable to laugh at every single joke. Nowadays, if you laugh, you’ll probably be berated and forced to apologize. I’m not afraid to say when I watch it now, I laugh just has hard as I did in 1996. It’s still hilarious!
The reason it’s still funny is because it has good intentions. This is not a movie that makes fun of a fat person. It’s a movie that makes you care about a man with really great qualities: kind, intelligent, devoted to his family, soft-spoken, romantic – and he happens to be fat. So while the movie does make you laugh at his size, you feel sorry for him and feel his pain. For example, he can barely fit into his chair when summoned to the dean’s office; but even though that’s funny, you feel bad that he’s so uncomfortable because the dean bullies him and makes him even more uncomfortable. In another scene, he’s reduced to tears while watching a television talk show and he pours a vat of candy into his mouth. It’s funny, yes, but it’s actually relatable. Many of us, from the thin to the obese, have sought comfort in junk food when we’re feeling inner pain. It’s actually a proven fact that feeling full translates to safety in the brain. But, when we do that enough times, we gain weight. In other words, the titular character is not just a punch line.
The seven different disguises of Eddie Murphy won an Oscar for Best Makeup, thank goodness! Anyone who comes from an overbearing family can identify with the weekly Klump family dinners. Every line that comes out of Larry Miller’s mouth is sinisterly funny, and Jada Pinkett is the perfect love interest for a man self-conscious of his physical flaws. It’s pretty much impossible to watch five minutes of this movie without cracking up. So here’s the plan: invite all the people who think this movie is offensive over to your house for movie night. Whenever someone laughs, force them to eat candy. Just kidding. You’ll run out of candy.
More Eddie Murphy movies here!
The reason it’s still funny is because it has good intentions. This is not a movie that makes fun of a fat person. It’s a movie that makes you care about a man with really great qualities: kind, intelligent, devoted to his family, soft-spoken, romantic – and he happens to be fat. So while the movie does make you laugh at his size, you feel sorry for him and feel his pain. For example, he can barely fit into his chair when summoned to the dean’s office; but even though that’s funny, you feel bad that he’s so uncomfortable because the dean bullies him and makes him even more uncomfortable. In another scene, he’s reduced to tears while watching a television talk show and he pours a vat of candy into his mouth. It’s funny, yes, but it’s actually relatable. Many of us, from the thin to the obese, have sought comfort in junk food when we’re feeling inner pain. It’s actually a proven fact that feeling full translates to safety in the brain. But, when we do that enough times, we gain weight. In other words, the titular character is not just a punch line.
The seven different disguises of Eddie Murphy won an Oscar for Best Makeup, thank goodness! Anyone who comes from an overbearing family can identify with the weekly Klump family dinners. Every line that comes out of Larry Miller’s mouth is sinisterly funny, and Jada Pinkett is the perfect love interest for a man self-conscious of his physical flaws. It’s pretty much impossible to watch five minutes of this movie without cracking up. So here’s the plan: invite all the people who think this movie is offensive over to your house for movie night. Whenever someone laughs, force them to eat candy. Just kidding. You’ll run out of candy.
More Eddie Murphy movies here!