By EWAN McDONALD
(Herald rating: * * )
Great makeup. Now, about the movie ...
Yes, the makeup is the most striking success of the second outing for Eddie Murphy's franchise derived from Jerry Lewis' 1963 Disney comedy. It allows Murphy to appear as eight different characters within the same family, up to
four of them on screen at one time.
The wonder is that so much effort went into creating such a lowbrow movie. Maybe we shouldn't be surprised: it's been the best part of a century since H. L. Mencken figured out that "no one went broke underestimating the taste of the American public."
Add to this the realisation that director Tom Shadyac made his name with Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and you know you're going to see sex'n'farts, and more, here.
Murphy's major character is the shy, lovable, overweight and absent-minded Professor Sherman Klump, whose alter-ego is Buddy Love, a vulgar peasant buried in his subconscious. Buddy's outbursts embarrass Sherman, threatening his marriage plans to colleague Denise Gains (Janet Jackson).
Borrowing Denise's DNA research, Sherman tries to extract Buddy's DNA from his system. But Buddy bursts into Sherman's world, trying to get his chubby hands on the professor's revolutionary youth serum.
This serum can turn back time temporarily, shave decades off one's (or eight's) appearance and restore vitality. Desperate to keep it from Buddy, Sherman hides the serum in the Klump family home.
Which is all a device for Murphy and Shadyac to unload enough scatalogy and vulgarity to keep a third-form boys' high school playground giggling from now until School Cert. Parents of those under 13, be warned.
Running time: 110 mins
Rental: Saturday
