☆ ☆ ½
The
Nutty Professor (1963) – J. Lewis
I thought I should give Jerry Lewis a
chance, seeing how he died and all, but you know, this was just too stupid for
me. I mean, this was the famous one,
right? Or is he better in other pictures
that he directed? Or in those early films with Dean Martin? I’d really only seen him in The King of
Comedy (1982) and Funny Bones (1995) and perhaps random other places (that
telethon). I gave Bob Hope a chance and
that didn’t work out so bad. But here,
despite the well-known premise (nerdy Professor Kelp drinks a potion that turns
him into swanky egomaniac Buddy Love, a supposed rip on Dean Martin),
everything was less than I expected. I
pondered a bit on Jerry’s direction of himself – he does “hold the beat” longer
than expected, presumably to milk the laugh…or to create it. Things feel a bit made for TV – sort of
children’s humour – and the straight roles (i.e., Stella Stevens) are too
credulous to accept. Jerry might be
slightly preferable in the Buddy role, but to what end? Am I being too tough? We can agree to disagree on this one. For the record, I don’t require all my comedy
to be smart or sophisticated, but I do prefer it to be funny. Still, a couple
of points for the concept, which might have been fresh once upon a time (and,
no, I won’t be checking the Eddie Murphy version anytime soon).
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