Plot
At Wellman College, thousands of hamsters are overrunning the entire campus, causing general chaos. This is due to the massively obese, yet loving and kind-hearted, professor Sherman Klump (Eddie Murphy), who accidentally released them by grazing the switch that opens the hamster's cages. Meanwhile, Sherman has constructed an experimental formula that reconstructs the DNA of an obese person in a way that will allow them to lose weight more easily.
After class, Sherman meets and instantly falls in love with Carla Purty (Jada Pinkett), a chemistry graduate student who is a big fan of his work. After dinner with his obese, impolite family, Sherman asks Carla out on a date, which she accepts, much to Sherman's pleasant surprise. At the date, it begins well with Carla showing admiration for Sherman's work, but the club's wicked comic Reggie Warrington heckles him about his obesity in front of the entire nightclub. Sherman becomes depressed and has a nightmare in which he becomes a giant and wrecks the city with just a single fart, which is then accidentally lit on fire. He tests the serum on himself, and loses 250 pounds in seconds. Overwhelmed, he goes out and buys many normal size clothing as a celebration.
Calling himself Buddy Love (Eddie Murphy), he invites Carla out on a date at the same club again (while the serum begins to wear off). Reggie (Dave Chappelle) is present again, and Buddy takes revenge and heckles him mercilessly; during which Buddy develops a personality of his own, as the high testosterone levels causes him to be overly assertive and confident and then stuffs him into a grand piano. The next morning, Dean Richmond (Larry Miller) has set up a meeting with Harlan Hartley at The Ritz to have Sherman describe the serum. Sherman arrives at The Ritz as Buddy with Carla. When the dean spots him, Carla asks Buddy if he will take Sherman's place. He does, and he takes all the credit of his work to Hartley (James Coburn). Hartley and the dean are very impressed with his work, and the dean invites him to the alumni ball. Meanwhile, Buddy picks up three beautiful women and invites them both back to his place for the night.
After a falling out with Carla and Richmond gleefully telling Sherman that Buddy will be taking his place at the Alumni Ball, Sherman, having enough of his alter ego, destroys all of the serum samples. Unfortunately, Buddy has planned for this and hidden a sample in one of Sherman's diet shake cans, which Sherman drinks, causing him to transform into Buddy again. Sherman's young assistant Jason (John Ales) tries to stop him from going to the ball, but Buddy knocks him out and departs. At the ball, Buddy demonstrates the effects of the serum to the audience, but Jason arrives in time, as he has found out that Buddy's testosterone levels are at a lethally high 60,000%. The two of them get into a brief fist fight, but Sherman begins to fight Buddy from within. Sherman eventually transforms into his regular self and admits to the alumni of his misdeeds, that Buddy was who he thought he and everybody else wanted him to be, and that he should accept himself for who he is. As he leaves, Carla stops him and asks why he lied; he says he did not believe that she would accept him, but she says it doesn't matter if he is overweight or not. The film ends with Sherman and Carla dancing, and Hartley giving the grant to Sherman because he is "a brilliant scientist and a gentleman."
Read more about this topic: The Nutty Professor (1996 Film)
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