A comedy of corpulence and clumsiness, this is a pretty feeble (but popular) remake of the Jerry Lewis classic, with almost no laughs at all for those who dislike bodily function jokes. This, in fact, is American low comedy at its lowest, and it's a pity to see Eddie Murphy's talent largely wasted on it. Blown up to 400 pounds in a terrific make-up job by Rick Baker, Murphy plays Sherman Klump, a waddly professor of science who falls heavily (! ) for tiny Jada Pinkett and, thanks to his secret formula, releases his glitzy, loud-mouthed, slimline other self, Buddy Love (Murphy in more familiar mode), to court her in ways the professor could only have dreamed about. Most of the subsequent gags centre on characters breaking wind, and the only inventively funny scene is where thin Murphy gets his own back on the comedian (David Chappelle) who insulted fat Murphy in a nightclub, by verbally taking the man apart.

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