Common Sense Media Review
By Charles Cassady Jr.
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Jerry Lewis' Jekyll-Hyde spoof is dated but great.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 8+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
The Nutty Professor (1963)
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).
Talk to Your Kids 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?
Movie Details
- In theaters : June 4, 1963
- On DVD or streaming : October 12, 2004
- Cast : Howard Morris , Jerry Lewis , Stella Stevens
- Director : Jerry Lewis
- Studio : Paramount Pictures
- Genre : Comedy
- Run time : 107 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : November 11, 2020
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