The Nutty Professor (1963)

  • Review Date: March 14, 2009
  • NR
  • Genre: Comedy
  • 1963
Review

Common Sense Media says

Jerry Lewis' Jekyll-Hyde spoof is dated but great.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

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Kids say

Not yet rated

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that despite being ranked highly in the Hollywood-comedy pantheon, this 1963 feature is not as fast-paced, f/x-bloated, or bathroom-humor risque as the later Nutty Professor remake movies starring Eddie Murphy in multiple roles. While younger kids will like the silliness, older kids and adults might better comprehend the humor here (and the mid-20th-century references to beatnik-jazz clubs, "swingers," and The Lost Weekend). Heavy drinking, cigarette smoking, and rude behavior are made to look glamorous, at least initially.

  • Positive messages1
    While Buddy Love is introduced as the most magnetic, macho, and "swingingest" man around, the script emphasizes he's a conceited jerk, too, more or less the villain of the piece. Ultimate message of Kelp learning self-acceptance and not trying to hide behind a facade. A pre-feminist view of female characters as either swooning love interests or nagging wives (though some perceptive comedy about how heroine Stella also puts on a whole different personality when she's with her pals than when she's in class).
  • Violence & scariness1
    The volatile Buddy Love punches out some guys. Slapstick weight-room accidents. Prof. Kelp is manhandled by a football jock.
  • Sexy stuff0
    Fantasy sequence of attractive leading lady Stella Stevens in some skimpy and clingy outfits (even those are pretty demure).
  • Language0
    Not applicable.
  • Consumerism0
    Dated plugs for Vic Tanny's gymnasium and bandleader Les Brown will go over heads of modern audiences.
  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking5
    Heavy drinking (and vast knowledge of cocktail mixology) is a strong part of Buddy Love's "cool" persona, although he is shown becoming surly and abusive because of it. Transformed back into Kelp, the character suffers a memorable comic hangover. Quite a bit of cigarette and cigar smoking across the cast, also seen as an indicator of sophistication. Only Julius Kelp coughs on tobacco smoke (obviously meant to be a sign of weakness). Undertone of drug use/abuse in Kelp's transformations.
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What's the story?

At a California college, nerdy chemistry professor Julius Kelp (Jerry Lewis) is a genius at brewing dangerous potions but a clumsy weakling in everything else. After being bullied by one of his own students, Kelp wonders if he can secretly formulate a chemical concoction that will grant him strength and assertiveness. Result: bucktoothed, bespectacled Kelp temporarily changes, unrecognizably, into a clubgoing hipster ladies' man, piano-playing crooner, and all-around alpha male who renames himself "Buddy Love." But while hugely popular, this new personality is also sullen, rude, egocentric, hard-drinking, and manipulative. Buddy begins a pushy courtship of a pretty co-ed Stella (Stella Stevens) in Kelp's class, who is both attracted and repulsed by this sharp-dressed, charismatic scoundrel.

Is it any good?

 

Even critics who hate Jerry Lewis movies praise THE NUTTY PROFESSOR, if grudgingly, as a high point for the director-star. In other knockabout comedies, done both with and without comedy partner Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis made a hit with audiences -- especially kids -- by (mis)behaving like a grating, hyperactive child. This film, while delivering a handful of broad slapstick bits, is less frenetic and more thoughtful and character-based, with some surprisingly nuanced psychological insights (compare-contrast with the Eddie Murphy version) as cartoonish Kelp experiences nightlife as the impossibly "cool" and abrasive Buddy Love.

Some commentators interpreted Buddy Love as a venomous caricature of Dean Martin, but it seems more like an on-target spoof on the whole early-60s male ideal of the hip dude, right outta the Rat Pack and the Playboy Mansion. Indeed, close your eyes while Buddy bosses women and insults men and you can imagine Frank Sinatra smugly delivering those same lines (and songs). In 2008 Jerry Lewis lent his voice and characters to a more kid-targeted, computer-generated cartoon sequel-update on DVD, also called The Nutty Professor (rated PG).

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What families can talk about

Families can talk about the way Jerry Lewis twisted The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for surprisingly profound character comedy -- for once the Mr. Hyde equivalent wasn't an apelike goon but a smooth, suave, "swinger" -- not a nice guy but superficially more appealing than Jekyll. Ask young viewers what they think of this movie compared to the later Eddie Murphy remake and its sequel. Do most women really go crazy for the bad-boy "Buddy Love" poseurs of the world or appreciate the Kelps/Klumps?

This review was written by Charles Cassady Jr.
Teen, 14 years old
June 9, 2009
AGE
6
 
A very good movie, but I wouldn't recommend it for younger children. The part where the professor turns into Buddy Love for the first time might frighten them.
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This review was written by Charles Cassady Jr.
Studio:Paramount Pictures
Director:Jerry Lewis
Cast:Howard Morris, Jerry Lewis, Stella Stevens
Genre:Comedy
Run time:107 minutes
Theatrical release date:June 4, 1963
DVD release date:October 12, 2004
MPAA rating:NR
This review was written by Charles Cassady Jr.
 

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ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
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