# Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
*Nutty Professor II: The Klumps* is a 2000 American romantic comedy and the sequel to the 1996 film *The Nutty Professor*, directed by [Peter Segal](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-segal) and starring [Eddie Murphy](https://www.edgepedia.org/eddie-murphy) as nearly the entire Klump family, including professor Sherman Klump and his alter ego Buddy Love[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/61421). It was produced by Brian Grazer for Universal Pictures and [Imagine Entertainment](https://www.edgepedia.org/imagine-entertainment), with Janet Jackson as Murphy's co-star[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/61421). The film opened at number one on July 28, 2000 and earned about $166 million worldwide against an $84 million production budget, but critics rated it poorly, praising Murphy's multiple performances while faulting the script and gross-out humor[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Nutty-Professor-II-The-Klumps) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nutty_professor_ii_the_klumps).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | Opened wide in the United States on July 28, 2000, released by Universal Pictures[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Nutty-Professor-II-The-Klumps) |
| Director and producer | Peter Segal directed; Brian Grazer produced for Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/61421) |
| Murphy's roles | Eight credited characters: Sherman Klump, Buddy Love, Granny, Mama, Papa, Young Papa, Ernie, and Lance Perkins[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/61421) |
| Box office | Opening weekend $42,518,830 in 3,242 theaters; domestic gross $123,307,945; worldwide $166,307,945 against a $84,000,000 budget[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Nutty-Professor-II-The-Klumps) |
| Critical scores | 27% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (88 reviews); Metascore 38 on Metacritic (34 critic reviews), labeled Generally Unfavorable[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nutty_professor_ii_the_klumps) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/nutty-professor-ii-the-klumps/critic-reviews/) |
| Rating and runtime | PG-13 for crude humor and sex-related material; running time reported as 106 minutes by The Numbers and 107 minutes by the AFI Catalog[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Nutty-Professor-II-The-Klumps) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/61421) |
| Home video | Released on video December 5, 2000 by Universal Home Entertainment[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Nutty-Professor-II-The-Klumps) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Professor Sherman Klump, a shy, heavyset science professor, is engaged to fellow DNA researcher Denise Gaines ([Janet Jackson](https://www.edgepedia.org/janet-jackson))[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nutty_professor_ii_the_klumps). In an attempt to remove his obnoxious, thin alter ego Buddy Love from his subconscious, Sherman accidentally creates Buddy as a separate person[5](https://www.starz.com/us/en/movies/nutty-professor-ii-the-klumps-36006). Buddy returns with a vengeance, intent on stealing Sherman's latest discovery, an explosive youth serum that restores vigor and vitality[6](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/07/28/nutty-by-nature/9cf0be39-e53b-4692-b030-1ebb146da18d/). Universal's own synopsis adds that Sherman finds romance with Denise and discovers a formula that reverses aging, and that when Buddy gets loose, it falls to Mama, Papa, Ernie, and Granny Klump to save the day[7](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/nutty-professor-ii-the-klumps).
## Murphy's multiple roles and the makeup
The film's central production feat is that Eddie Murphy plays nearly the whole cast. The AFI Catalog credits him with eight roles: Sherman, Buddy, Granny, Mama, Papa, Young Papa, Ernie, and Lance[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/61421). Jamal Mixon, as Ernie Klump Jr., is the one Klump family member not played by Murphy[6](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/07/28/nutty-by-nature/9cf0be39-e53b-4692-b030-1ebb146da18d/).
**Rick Baker's makeup.** The prosthetic transformations were designed by makeup artist [Rick Baker](https://www.edgepedia.org/rick-baker), who had won an Academy Award for the first film[8](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/nutty-professor-ii-the-klumps-2000). According to a Los Angeles Times profile published around the release, Murphy spent 75 days in makeup on the sequel, playing a different character each day, with one day each week reserved for Buddy Love so that Murphy's face could breathe; Baker said he was amazed by the actor's patience[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jul-28-ca-60394-story.html). Roger Ebert, the longtime [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times) film critic, called the result "a rather astonishing creative collaboration between Eddie Murphy and makeup artist Rick Baker," populating the movie with eight convincing characters, each with its own personality[8](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/nutty-professor-ii-the-klumps-2000).
## Critical reception
Critics praised Murphy's performances and the technical skill that let his Klump characters interact, but many found the movie rambling and overly gross[10](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/movie-crowds-go-nutty-for-murphy-and-the-klumps/articleshow/1783416324.cms). On Metacritic the film scored 38 out of 100 from 34 critic reviews, with 8 positive, 12 mixed, and 14 negative, a rating the site labels Generally Unfavorable[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/nutty-professor-ii-the-klumps/critic-reviews/). On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 27% Tomatometer score based on 88 reviews; the site's critics consensus states that, although Eddie Murphy remains funny in every one of his Klump family roles, uneven pacing, a weak screenplay, and humor drawn from gross-out gags instead of comedy cause the picture to come undone.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nutty_professor_ii_the_klumps)
Individual reviews split along the same line. Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review, writing that the Klump family creation was "some kind of brilliance" even within "a comedy of determined vulgarity"[8](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/nutty-professor-ii-the-klumps-2000). Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly called it "messy and scattershot, with a plot that's little more than a dirty version of ''Flubber''"[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/nutty-professor-ii-the-klumps/critic-reviews/). The Washington Post's review noted that the film carried some of the nastiest language to qualify as a family comedy, and observed that the Klump family, subplot characters in the 1996 film, had become the main attraction[6](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/07/28/nutty-by-nature/9cf0be39-e53b-4692-b030-1ebb146da18d/).
## Box office
The film opened at number one for the weekend of July 28–30, 2000, grossing $42,518,830 from 3,242 theaters, an average of $13,115 per theater[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Nutty-Professor-II-The-Klumps). That opening beat the $25.4 million opening weekend of *The Nutty Professor* in 1996[10](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/movie-crowds-go-nutty-for-murphy-and-the-klumps/articleshow/1783416324.cms). The opening represented 34.5% of the film's eventual total gross, and the domestic run finished at $123,307,945, 74.1% of the $166,307,945 worldwide total[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Nutty-Professor-II-The-Klumps). Against the $84,000,000 production budget, worldwide box office came to 2.0 times the budget[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Nutty-Professor-II-The-Klumps). Universal's head of distribution Nikki Rocco attributed the commercial success to audiences rather than reviewers, saying that with PG-13 comedies "you're never going to please reviewers" but "audiences love this stuff"[10](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/movie-crowds-go-nutty-for-murphy-and-the-klumps/articleshow/1783416324.cms).
## Place in the series
The film is the second entry in the Nutty Professor franchise, which descends from [Jerry Lewis](https://www.edgepedia.org/jerry-lewis)'s 1963 comedy *[The Nutty Professor](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-nutty-professor-1963-film)*; Lewis receives a characters credit on the sequel[11](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144528/fullcredits/) • [12](https://openscholar.uga.edu/record/10693/files/harvey_beverly_d_200612_ma.pdf). The 1996 remake, also starring Murphy, had been a worldwide box office hit, and the sequel's premiere press release positioned it as the return of Buddy Love, who Sherman "thought he had seen the last of"[13](https://www.seeing-stars.com/Meet/MoviePremierePressReleases/NuttyProfessor2.shtml). A Rotten Tomatoes editorial ranking comedy sequels by Tomatometer places the drop from the first film's 64% to the sequel's 27% among the notable declines, attributing the fall to gross-out gags[14](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/gallery/24-best-and-worst-comedy-sequels-by-tomatometer/nutty-professor-2-the-klumps-di/).
## References
1. [Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/61421)
2. [Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000) Box Office and Financial Information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Nutty-Professor-II-The-Klumps)
3. [Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nutty_professor_ii_the_klumps)
4. [Nutty Professor II: The Klumps Critic Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/nutty-professor-ii-the-klumps/critic-reviews/)
5. [Watch Nutty Professor II: The Klumps Online, STARZ](https://www.starz.com/us/en/movies/nutty-professor-ii-the-klumps-36006)
6. ['Nutty' by Nature, The Washington Post (July 28, 2000)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/07/28/nutty-by-nature/9cf0be39-e53b-4692-b030-1ebb146da18d/)
7. [Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Universal Pictures At Home](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/nutty-professor-ii-the-klumps)
8. [Nutty Professor II: The Klumps movie review, RogerEbert.com (July 28, 2000)](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/nutty-professor-ii-the-klumps-2000)
9. [The Man Behind the Rubber Masks, Los Angeles Times (July 28, 2000)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jul-28-ca-60394-story.html)
10. [Movie crowds go nutty for Murphy and the Klumps, Times of India](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/movie-crowds-go-nutty-for-murphy-and-the-klumps/articleshow/1783416324.cms)
11. [Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000) Full cast & crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144528/fullcredits/)
12. [Harvey, Beverly D. (2006). The Nutty Professor – from Julius Kelp to Sherman Klump, University of Georgia thesis](https://openscholar.uga.edu/record/10693/files/harvey_beverly_d_200612_ma.pdf)
13. [Movie Premiere Press Release – Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps, Universal Pictures (July 24, 2000)](https://www.seeing-stars.com/Meet/MoviePremierePressReleases/NuttyProfessor2.shtml)
14. [24 Best and Worst Comedy Sequels by Tomatometer, Rotten Tomatoes Editorial](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/gallery/24-best-and-worst-comedy-sequels-by-tomatometer/nutty-professor-2-the-klumps-di/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Franchise and series entries as standalone works › Teen and comedy series film entries › Entries released in the 2000s*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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