All spoilers for The Nutty Professor (1996) are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps is the 2000 sequel to The Nutty Professor, directed by Peter Segal, with the screenplay by Barry W. Blaustein, David Sheffield, Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz, and the story by Blaustein, Sheffield and Steve Oedekirk. It was released on July 28, 2000. Given that a third film never materialized, and the plot to this one ties all loose ends, it serves as a finale to the film series.
Like the first movie, it stars Eddie Murphy in multiple roles, and this time the Klump family is more front and center, with a subplot centered on the parents, and the brother and grandmother providing comic relief.
Sherman Klump (Murphy) and fiancée Denise Gaines (Janet Jackson) work on the DNA restructuring formula, this time leading to the discovery of a potential Fountain of Youth. But Sherman is still struggling with his alter ego Buddy Love (Murphy), whose personality sometimes take over. This leads him to try a dangerous experiment to remove Buddy permanently, using Denise's methodology to get rid of the gene through which Buddy manifests. Because he does not dispose correctly of the extracted DNA, it accidentally get mixed with a hair from a basset hound test subject, and it causes Buddy Love to grow into a separate entity. Lots of hijinks ensue.
The film also stars Larry Miller as Dean Richmond and John Ales as Jason.
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps provides examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer:
- Grandma Klump to Buddy.
- Also, the hamster to Dean Richmond.
- Accidental Innuendo: Invoked In-Universe by Dean Richmond.
- Advertised Extra: Ernie Klump. Papa and Grandma get subplots of sorts, and the former leads to more screentime to Mama. The brother still has nothing to do.
- Ascended Extra: Ever wonder why it's subtitled "The Klumps"?
- Attractive Bent Species: During the Attack of the 50-Foot Hamster, the dean tries to hide under a fur coat, making him resemble a giant hamster himself. This works out for him just as you'd expect.
- Award-Bait Song: "Doesn't Really Matter"
by co-star Janet Jackson. - Big Word Shout: Towards the end of the film, Buddy yells "Stop!" just before his DNA falls near the train station's fountain.
- Bookends: Like the first movie, this one ends with Sherman dancing with his love interest at a formal gathering. Except this time, it's their wedding day!
- Call-Back: Buddy intentionally name-drops Carla Purty from the first film just to irk Sherman in front of his new love interest, Denise. Sherman makes it clear that he and Carla were Just Friends.
- Captain Obvious: "The University of Maine? But, Denise... that's in Maine!"
- Chekhov's Gag: When Buddy regenerates, he accidentally absorbed dog DNA, meaning he picks up canine behaviors. Sherman uses this to his advantage, throwing a serum-laced rubber ball at him, anticipating he'll catch it in his mouth.
- Continuity Nod: Just like in the first film, Sherman conducts a lab experiment to remove Buddy's DNA during a thunderstorm.
- Darker and Edgier: The Klumps has a few moments that range from dark humor to horror. Buddy Love is more evil than he ever was in the first film or the older movie it's based on. He goes from trying to take Sherman's place to outright trying stalking and trying to destroy Sherman and anyone else who gets in the way. Even before his DNA was separated from Sherman's, Buddy even found many ways to attack him from the inside, especially by hijacking his mind randomly. He gives Sherman a terrible nightmare and embarrasses him in ways that briefly alienate him from Denise and his father. That aside, there were Tear Jerker moments too. Relationship problems between Sherman's parents mirror Sherman's relationship troubles with Denise, Buddy steals a DNA sample, making it nearly impossible to get rid of him, and Sherman nearly becomes permanently mentally incapacitated.
- Dirty Old Woman: The oversexed Grandma Klump.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: Denise's actress Janet Jackson also sang "Doesn't Really Matter", which is featured in the film.
- Enemy Without: Buddy Love is excised from Sherman Klump's body when the latter decides he finally wants to be rid of him, whereas in the previous film he was simply an evil alter ego. However, this turns out to have negative side effects, since neither can survive without the other and Sherman starts to rapidly lose his intellect.
- Fan Disservice: Granny leaping through a field of daisies in a see-through nightgown.
- Fanservice Extra: After Buddy turns into a baby, he rips a nearby woman's shirt, promptly catching Richmond's attention.
- Foreshadowing: Buddy crying like a baby after being kissed by Granny Klump foreshadows Buddy transforming into a baby when Sherman tricks Buddy into taking the new formula.
- Fountain of Youth: Sherman's formula. It's designed for use on animals, but turns out to work just fine on humans as well.
- Grand Finale: Buddy Love is defeated once and for all, and most importantly: Sherman’s quest for love is finally over upon his marriage to Denise.
- It's Not You, It's Me: Sherman Klump ends up breaking off the marriage because he believes that he can't be a good husband while his intellect was deteriorating after removing Buddy Love from his system.
- Last-Second Villain Recovery: In the climax, Sherman finally hits upon a means of stopping Buddy once and for all; in this case, tricking him into unwittingly ingesting a dose of his youth serum so he can be reabsorbed back into Sherman before his intellect completely collapses. Unfortunately, the newly-regressed Buddy is able to wriggle out of captivity and run off before he can be reabsorbed. Ultimately, Buddy melts into blue slime and begins evaporating - opting to die rather than become part of Sherman again. And just when it looks as if the film is going to conclude on a Downer Ending, the last of the slime happens to dissolve in fountain, allowing Sherman to drink from it and recover his mind.
- Magic Countdown: During the Armageddon parody that makes up one of Sherman's dreams, Denise tells him that he has thirty seconds before the asteroid hits Earth, but it's actually two minutes before the asteroid hits. Justified, since the scene is parodying disaster films, where this trope is common (well, that and the fact that it's a dream).
- Meaningful Name: The slender love interest in the second film is named Denise Gaines, especially when we're shown that Mrs. Klump's old wedding dress fits her.
- Nightmare Sequence: Sherman dreams that an asteroid is about to hit Earth, and because he's losing his intelligence he's unable to prevent it from destroying the planet.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Sherman, when he sees Buddy Love somehow became a separate person.
- During his dream, Sherman says "Oh, shit!" after managing to blow up Earth's moon instead of the planet-killing asteroid he was supposed to destroy.
- Happens when Buddy runs off after Sherman turns him back into a jello-like substance and he disintegrates. Luckily, it happens by a fountain, so when a tear from Denise drops on to his DNA structure and it lands in the water of it, Sherman is able to be revived by her and Cletus forcing him to drink it.
- Old Shame: In-Universe, Buddy Love was this for Sherman, and he didn't tell Denise about him before.
- Remake Cameo: Kathleen Freeman, one of the actors from the 1963 Nutty Professor movie, makes a cameo.
- Remember the New Guy?: Denise. She and Sherman appear to have been seeing each for some time between films.
- Rodents of Unusual Size: Buddy replaces Sherman's youth formula with Miracle-Gro, which is then fed to a lab hamster. Hilarity Ensues.
- Sequel Escalation: Along with a bigger effects budget, allowing for more scenes with the other Klumps, the lowbrow comedy also escalates.
- Sexual Karma: Dean Richmond gets more than his share of this, courtesy of "Jumbo the Horny Hamster".
- Shapeshifting Sound: Sherman Klump's youth serum often takes effect with a faint rushing sound; this is most notable during the climax, in which Buddy Love is unwittingly exposed to a dose and regresses into a baby with a sound like air being let out of a balloon.
- Shout-Out:
- Buddy laughing mad while watching Cape Fear is a reference to DeNiro's Max Cady doing the same in that film's remake.
- The Attack of the 50 Foot Hamster scene is reminiscent of the climax of the Goosebumps book Monster Blood II.
- Surprise Incest: A variation of this when Grandma Klump tries to seduce Buddy, considering that Buddy is essentially a thin-sized clone of her grandson.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Denise is a replacement to Carla from the first film, and there are little differences between their characters.
- Synchronized Swarming: The professor proposes to his girlfriend by attracting fireflies into the words "Marry me?" using a synthesized firefly pheromone.
- Take Our Word for It: Once Richmond is assaulted by a giant hamster, it cuts to the Klumps watching it on TV, discussing the transmission that somehow hasn't been cut - and they can't fathom themselves into shutting off either.
- Team Power Walk: The Klumps do this as they're headed to an all-you-can-eat buffet, where they eat every last piece of food in the place except the salad.
- That Came Out Wrong: "Pardon me ladies and gentlemen, but I cannot go on living unless I have this man inside me right now!"
- This Ain't Rocket Surgery: Sherman, whose mind is decaying rapidly and is just about to meet Denise's parents, assures himself that he won't make a fool of himself because Denise's parents are probably not rocket scientists. Turns out that's exactly what they are.
- Toilet Humour: When Jumbo becomes well, jumbo, he starts shooting hamster pellets the size of footballs. They spin like footballs and can hit a man with enough force to send him flying. And yes they show all of this in its "glory".
- Took a Level in Dumbass: Played for Drama: By removing Buddy Love from his DNA, Sherman causes his brain to start deteriorating. He can't teach his class or articulate his thoughts and is a bit of a bumbler. Towards the end of the movie, he loses his memory, and breaks up with Denise, not wanting to burden her with his lack of functionality. He is able to recover his brilliance by reabsorbing Buddy.
- Took a Level in Kindness:
- While still a jerk, Dean Richmond is much nicer and more respectful to Sherman. He briefly returns to his antagonistic nature after the hamster incident. Nevertheless, they're friends again by the end of the film.
- Also, Papa Klump is far more supportive and encouraging in regards to Sherman's scientific endeavors, going as far as to say he reared a genius.
- The Unfavorite: Sort of implied with Sherman's brother Ernie Klump Sr.
- Vocal Dissonance: Even after Sherman turns him into a baby, Buddy still retains his adult voice.
