THERE'S bad taste movies and then there's baaaaaad taste, and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps is definitely the latter.

The original may have saved Eddie Murphy from the reject comedian pile, but the sequel does him no justice whatsoever. Much like the first movie, we are taken on an egotistical trip in which Murphy plays no less than eight different characters.

The overweight Professor Sherman Klump returns with yet another bright invention when he discovers the "fountain of youth". All seems fine and dandy for the good-natured prof, until he discovers the return of the Buddy Love gene - his selfish and macho alter ego.

After disgracing his father at a family dinner and virtually ruining his relationship with the beautiful Denise (Janet Jackson), Sherman decides to undergo gene extraction and rid himself of Buddy Love for good.

But, as you would expect, things don't go according to plan. The side effects mean Sherman is slowly going daft. Not good - particularly as he is due to give a presentation on the youth formula to a pharmaceutical company, with the promise of $150,000,000 at the end of it.

But that's not all. Buddy Love has managed to become a separate entity thanks to a minor accident in the laboratory and the hair from a dog. (Don't ask.)

Buddy wants revenge and is determined to sell the invention as his own, but he's having difficulties keeping focused when there's the promise of a fetch the ball game.

There are various sub plots that save this piece from becoming completely tiresome, with the highly-sexed grandma - again played by Murphy - possibly being the pice de rsistance. The handful of extremely comical moments, however, are overshadowed by the pathetic dabble in the ridiculous and, yes, rather gross comedy that we have seen in recent cult films like American Pie. Take a giant hamster on heat and the principal Dean Richmond being mistaken for a mate and you get the gist.

The real failure of this movie however is the fast-moving overlapping dialogue that becomes extremely difficult to decipher. Combine this with a movie that by no means lives up to other gross-out movies and you've got a recipe for disaster.

The one saving grace of this movie comes right at the end in the credits with a few very comical out-takes. I just hope they don't make matters worse and consider making yet another sequel.

Natalie Brckner