The Nutty Professor (1963)

Did you people see the same film I saw?

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

OK. Beyond writing a straight, common review of how funny or not so funny this movie is, i would like to make some points. Yes, i am a 60's child that grew up watching Lewis, Clint Eastwood and his spaghetti westerns, corny TV shows like Lost In Space, The Time Tunnel; enjoyed watching Elvis gyrating with babes on the beach, and was enthralled with the rudimentary art of the TV cartoons in the 60's. But here is one point: today, the youth understands humour as something that is wide open and that has no bounderies. That means anything goes in comedy nowadays: sex, drugs, perversion of all kinds, profuse swearing, strong condescending attitudes, acidic cynicism, manic depressive characters that will sometimes spit out a funny joke attached to a body part, a sex act or followed by a huge toke from a huge joint. Well, i am old enough to know that humour is not limited to what today's media dish out. There are many kinds of humour; of course some types of comedy originated from way back and because it was from a somewhat distant past, lots of youths will quickly dismiss it as UNfunny. What is funny is like " Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder": what is funny to one may not be funny to another. But what I find disappointing is the trend, the current, the direction comedy takes today. It seems to ignore the value of physical comedy, satire, slap stick, Vaudeville and so on. In the past, some of the best comedy was seen in duos, on stages of variety shows, etc. Mainstream TV still offers in modest ways those comedy styles (SNL of the 70's, 80's, SCTV, In Living Color) but nothing like Martin's Laugh In or The Carol Burnett Show delivered. Back then comedy was for the whole family, now comedy has a parental guidance warning. If someone like me dares to surf the channels to find and enjoy cleaner comedy, I will certainly hit a brick wall. That is the sad part of this issue: the present offers very little options in terms of a broad choice to comedy types. So, aside from this essay approach to my take on Comedy, this movie is one of many good comedies Lewis created. Many of his movies showed creative comedy that did not need fancy special effects or CGI to be funny. In fact, when people mention that Eddie Murphy's version is comparable and that his scenes with multiple characters he portrays "at the same time" is false. The effect seems to have Murphy doing the characters all at once but of course, they were each filmed then edited and CGIed to look as one event. Well, Lewis did not have CGI and advanced special effects with which he could play. But despite that technological absence, he pulled it off masterfully, with the techniques typical of the times. And then there are those small moments, details that express a subtle humour that is not loud, obnoxious or full of disrespectful attitudes. The scene where you see Lewis sitting deep inside a chair, chatting with his university chair person. The timing is classic, the sound effects support the comedic moment and, best of all, Lewis' expressions are what makes for a curriculum of comedy worthy of any college. His movies show us many examples of his unequalled talent in physical comedy, his ability to play with his voice, his face, his limbs and his admirable talent to portray many different personalities, characters with comedy that points out the humanity in even the least likable of characters (like the gangster in The Family Jewels). I agree that many of the films he directed were filled with flaws of all sorts but so are many, many other movies directed by other people (Clint, Spielberg and Hitchcock among others). The scripts were not always the best in Jerry's movies but they held their own and they survived because of Jerry's humour. we also do understand that Jerry had the habit of building his movies as series of skits, strung together with light hearted script. His movies were pure entertainment of the joyous kind, like most comedies of the past. They were not depressing, full of nudity, graphic sexual acts, scenes of death, gore and vulgarities of all sorts. They were light, happy, unpretentious and only wanted to make you laugh, that is it. If today's youth views his movies and fail to laugh when viewing, then i cannot help them, I cannot cure them, and i must move along with my generational differences and take to my grave what I enjoyed during my childhood and throughout my whole life. Call me old fashioned and that is more than fine with me. If i was to try redemption for our modern society, i could say that one of the last physical humorist of our times, who saw it fit to make movies almost comparable to Jerry's, would be Jim Carrey. In the 1990's, we saw him perform a similar type of comedy as Jerry's and it was refreshing to me. But by then came a huge wave of comedians that thrived on the F word and bodily functions to make people laugh, and that is when I stopped laughing.

Director-Writer-Star Jerry Lewis' Timing was Perfect, because He Made this, His Masterpiece, at the Very Last Moment before Pop Culture Changed Dramatically a Year Later with Beatlemania. It was Done in the Last Gasp of the Rat Pack and Rock n' Roll as We Knew it. It was a Time when the Plasticville Fifties would Shortly be Shoved in the Dustbin of History and a More Mature, Philosophical, and Challenging Freedom in Art would be Forthcoming and a New Zeitgeist would Zip onto the Scene.There's No Way the Hybrid (Dean Martin-Frank Sinatra-Jerry Lewis) Buddy Love could have Passed for Anything Resembling Hip just a Year Later. So Jerry Lewis Snuck this One in just in the Knick of Time. It is the Movie that All of Jerry Lewis Movie's are Compared, With or Without Dean Martin. It's so Representative that it is Accurate to Say that if You Only Ever See One Jerry Lewis Movie, See this One.The Film is Enchanting with its Classic Dual Personality Story, Effervescent Technicolor, Stunning Leading Lady, and the Jerry Lewis "Charm" of Silent Slapstick, Sight Gags Galore, and Smarmy Sentimentality (that rarely worked so well for Jerry). It is His Best Remembered Movie, His Most Popular Movie, His Most Critically Acclaimed Movie, and it has the Ability to Soften the Most Hardened of His Critics to at Least Acknowledge there is a Talent at Work Here.The Depth and Greatness of that Talent is Up for Debate. But this Movie, while Containing a Goodly Amount of the Jerry Lewis Schtick, is Undeniably an Entertaining Oddity with so Much Vibrancy on Screen it is Difficult to Ignore and Must be Considered Art. The Sight Gags, Always a Highlight in Jerry's Films, are Fantastic here and there is an Equal Amount of Drama to Balance the Silliness and the Transformation Scene Contains some Terror.Overall, it is Widely Considered the Peak of Jerry's Success both Critically and at the Box Office. He would Never Again be as Good or such a Phenom. Although Hardly Done Making Movies, He would Never Again Come Close to this Type of Terrific.

This movie is remarkable and entertaining. It is part comedy, part science fiction and part social commentary. Jerry Lewis is brilliant. He plays three aspects of the same character - an over-intellectual introvert; a pushy and obnoxious extrovert; and a toddler. Lewis carries the movie. The story is endearing. It depicts a man struggling to be taken seriously, and the extremes he is willing to go to obtain happiness. Stella Stevens is wonderful as the female lead. She is perfect for the role of college student and confidante. Several scenes are hilarious, especially the one involving the meeting between Buddy Love and the bossy president of the college, played by Del Moore. The story is a take off on the Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde format, but with an amusing spin and an upbeat resolution. Jerry Lewis is both goofy and sharp. He also sings several songs, revealing an excellent singing voice. This is a wonderful movie.

Jerry Lewis himself always considered this his greatest film. He's right. It is. We will never know what he had in mind when he came with the idea -- looks like a stab at a "goofy" version of Jekyll/Hyde -- but whatever it was, it worked. Years later, Lewis would boast to interviewers that he not only had the pleasure of making this film a success at the time, but he made money a second time when he re-sold the rights to Eddie Murphy. (Who used said rights to make a film of considerably lesser merit. But HEY if Jerry had a payday, I'm happy for him.) Frankly it is hard to discuss the contribution of the rest of the cast because, of this there is no doubt, Jerry steals the entire picture. (In most of his other films, he "attempts" to steal the picture, but rarely succeeds. Here he nails it. Big difference.) Stella Stevens is memorable even in a fairly understated performance. And the parrot does a good job too -- playing a parrot. I believe the sub-themes spinning around the way the Stevens character immediately goes for the "bad boy" in Buddy Love do have implications for the culture of the day, but the film is oh so much more than that. It is about the difference between who you are, and who you want to be. It is a must-see, a one of a kind. And as promised here is what may be the secret to Lewis' pitch-perfect performance. In an interview given years later by Lewis' son, the interviewer was told that Jerry did such a great job on Buddy because Jerry "was" buddy in real life. No acting required. Food for thought.