The Nutty Professor
Pearl, 9.30pm
The most amazing thing about this remake of the 1963 Jerry Lewis classic is that Eddie Murphy (above) stars, not only as Professor Sherman Klump and his alter ego, Buddy Love, but also as Lance Perkins, Cletus 'Papa' Klump, Anna Pearl 'Mama' Jensen Klump, Ida Mae 'Grandma/Granny' Jensen and Ernie Klump Snr. The exception is Ernie Klump Jnr, played by Jamal Mixon. No wonder The Nutty Professor was nominated for the Oscar for best make-up. Directed by Tom Shadyac, the comedy has a grossly overweight and painfully shy chemistry professor, Sherman Klump, eager to lose weight and reinvent himself. He develops a magic potion that miraculously transforms him into Buddy Love, a lean, mean, sex machine, capable of seducing any woman in sight. This includes the chemistry department's beautiful new professor, Carla Purty (Jada Pinkett Smith). But, along the way, he discovers Love's obnoxious side and, to make matters worse, the potion is highly unstable and can wear off at any time.
The Nutty Professor spawned last year's sequel, The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, in which Murphy reprised all his roles - and created more. Janet Jackson was cast as his love interest Professor Denise Gaines. At times, the sequel's toilet humour is taken too far. Luckily, the bad taste is minimal in The Nutty Professor and it provided the inspiration for Hong Kong's copycat version, Love On A Diet, starring singers Andy Lau Tak-wah and Sammi Cheng Sau-man. (1996)
Felicity
Pearl, 2.45pm