“Klump in charge, Klump in charge, Klump in charge…” So chants determined Sherman Klump (Eddie Murphy), desperate to keep the resurgence of skinny, sleazy alter ego Buddy Love (also Eddie Murphy) at bay. It’s not Buddy Love the film needs to watch out for though – it’s the Klump clan itself. Klump(s) in charge? That might just be the problem.
Like a horror sequel over-sharing its villain, so The Klumps (the klue’s in the title) finds itself unable to resist filling the screen with kretinous Klumps at every opportunity, forgetting that such things are inevitably better in small doses. Surprisingly, there’s less farting, but there’s far too much of everything else: too much Mama Klump (another Eddie Murphy), too much Papa Klump (Eddie Murphy, again), far, far too much Granny Klump (yes, Eddie Murphy), too much Ernie Klump Jr (not Eddie Murphy!) and, okay, surprisingly, not enough Ernie Klump Sr (guess who).
The hook, this time, if you didn’t see The Klumps during or since the dawn of the millennium, is Sherman’s latest concoction – a magic potion capable of temporarily de-aging whoever might partake. At the same time, there’s the re-emergence of Buddy Love, now a separate entity from Sherman and having taken on the characteristics of a dog, mostly so as he can stick his head out of car windows and leer at humping hounds in the street.
Nobody suffers from the excess Klumps like Sherman and Buddy: the former side-lined in favour of a subplot about his daddy’s erectile dysfunction, the latter losing all of his potency, charisma and surprising menace, as a series of punchlines at the chubby hands of the Klumps. Still, nobody suffers quite like Dean Richmond (another non-Eddie Murphy), anally raped by a giant gerbil in a ‘joke’ which truly has not aged well in our day and age of sensitive thought and not laughing at people being raped by things (Internet trolls and Dapper Laughs fans notwithstanding).
Unlike its predecessor, The Klumps comes packed with a veritable buffet works of special features, designed to prolong your Klump experience. This includes an extended restaurant sequence (why would you do that to yourself), a deleted scene, outtakes and a music video by Janet Jackson. Janet Jackson, who is in this movie but is so forgettable in it that I barely remembered to mention how poorly she compares to Jada Pinkett Smith.
Like Sherman Klump, there are two Eddie Murphys. There’s the talented, funny man who performed Raw live and made the likes of Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America. Then there’s the Eddie Murphy helming endless Shrek sequels, Norbit, Meet Dave and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. Sadly, it has become all-too clear which one seems to be running the show these days.
NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: PETER SEGAL / SCREENPLAY: BARRY W. BLAUSTEIN, DAVID SHEFFIELD, PAUL WEITZ, CHRIS WEITZ / STARRING: EDDIE MURPHY, JANET JACKSON, JAMAL MIXON, JOHN ALES / RELEASE DATE: 29TH FEBRUARY
