POPCORN RATING: 2 out of 5

They say inside every fat person is a thin one screaming to get out.

POPCORN RATING: 2 out of 5

They say inside every fat person is a thin one screaming to get out. After one hour and forty five minutes of enduring Eddie Murphy's latest fat joke, I myself was screaming to get out.

While the original Nutty Professor was both hilarious and oddly moving in places, Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps belly-flops with most of its intended laughs.

Eddie Murphy stars as the overweight professor of the title, Sherman Klump, who finds himself torn between his own good nature and the inner voices of his crude alter-ego Buddy Love.

Sherman attempts a radical solution, conducting an experiment to get Buddy out of his body. But Buddy won't go away so easily.

The disastrous effects of Sherman's plan result in his mischievous other half returning in human form to torment Klump, his girlfriend (Janet Jackson) and family (all played by Murphy himself).

It's this family which provide the few laughs in the sequel, continuing the banter that made their few scenes in the original worth watching.

But this is not enough to rescue the movie.

Most of the comedy on show is so over the top it makes Dumb and Dumber seem like Woody Allen ,, for example a scene in which a 20ft hamster performs an act on Sherman's boss not suitable for printing in a family newspaper.

And while that scene may provide chuckles, it's unfortunate that the rest of the film is drastically unfunny for a large duration of its running time.

Disappointing considering Eddie Murphy is usually the kind of performer who can send you into hysterics with even the most mundane of material.

The one saving grace of the film is the make up. The prosthetics are so impressive you genuinely believe Murphy as an excitable mother, foul-mouthed father and even a randy granny. But while Murphy wears the prosthetics, it's Jackson who provides the plastic in a performance that shows the only studio she should be allowed near is one for recording music.

In fairness to NP2, it is hilarious in places. But considering the joke-per-second style, this is nowhere near often enough.

The punchline was delivered in the first movie ,, let's just hope the joke isn't dragged out any longer.