Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes
Susan Stark, Detroit News: The Nutty Professor isn't much of a movie, but it's certainly a prime showcase for Eddie Murphy's enormous talent. Read more
Janet Maslin, New York Times: Murphy proves himself a surprisingly strong actor here, playing Sherman with sweetness and poignancy, not to mention loads of funny weight-related humor. Read more
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Messy, raucous, crude and undisciplined though this remake of the 1963 Jerry Lewis vehicle is, it also creates more laughter (and poignancy) than any Eddie Murphy movie has in quite some time. Read more
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Murphy outdoes himself by bringing pathos as well as sweetness to the character, arguably making him a viable update of Lewis's bucktoothed Julius Kelp. Read more
Globe and Mail: The flick is sketch comedy spun out to feature length. Read more
James Berardinelli, ReelViews: This movie is a little too interested in easy jokes to bother with having a heart. Read more
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The movie succeeds in two different ways: It's sweet and good-hearted, and then again it's raucous slapstick and bathroom humor. Read more
Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle: This is a chance to see Murphy doing what he does best, and for that alone it's worth seeing. Read more
Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: [Murphy] is able to invest his Professor Klump with an endearing dignity, give his lounge lizard alter ego, Buddy Love, an alligator's bite and then go on from there to play Klump's grandma. Also his mother, father and brother. Read more