The Nutty Professor is one of the most fascinating variationson the Jekyll-Hyde theme. It's also one of the cruelest, nastiest,malice-aforethought swipes ever taken by one member of a broken-uppartnership at the other, as Jerry Lewis lets us know exactly what hethinks of Dean Martin. Lewis plays a typical role as a kindly, spastic,socially inept scientist, whose childish behavior alienates almosteveryone he meets. So he invents a serum that turns him into, well, intoDean Martin-a slick, assertive, fast-talking, hard-drinking nightclubsinger, whose obnoxious insincerity only makes him more successful inattracting the women who shunned Lewis earlier. Lewis plays the Dinopart with fiendish pleasure, letting years of pent-up hatred charge (an)extraordinary screen performance. There are laughs in The NuttyProfessor, but its bitter subtext makes it as bleak a picture of humangullibility as Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole, and despite a happyending, its merciless division of the world into powerless Lewises andsuccessful Dinos leaves little room for hope. If, like many Americans,you still find it hard to accept Lewis's stature as a serious, consciousfilmmaker, this corrosive masterwork will set your doubts to rest.--Michael Goodwin