From our seat in the movie theater, all we could see was the back of the man's head and shoulders. But the rowdy teenagers sitting in front of us noticed something else: He was overweight.
"Klump's in the house!" one of the boys yelled in the man's direction.
My husband nudged me. The teenagers howled with laughter. But the stranger sitting across the aisle refused to acknowledge the insult, obviously intended to liken him to the oversized character in the movie we were all there to see, Eddie Murphy's "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps."
I didn't think about that scene again until last week when a friend, who has struggled mightily with his weight, shared his frustration that the movie has become one of the summer's biggest hits.
"Of all the movies to be successful, why this one?" he asked.
Overweight most of his life, my friend has endured plenty of fat jokes and hurtful teasing. Some folks even began calling him "The Nutty Professor" four years ago, when Murphy first introduced the obese, tenderhearted Professor Sherman Klump.
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My friend wasn't laughing then, either. So, it was with dread that he awaited the sequel, which soared to No. 1 at the box office, bringing in $42.7 million-- Murphy's personal best--on its opening weekend last month.
In it, Murphy portrays the brilliant professor, as well as four of the other five Klumps: his dad, Cletus; his mom, Mama; his brother, Ernie; and his grandmother, Granny. He also plays the role of his wicked, skinny alter ego, Buddy Love.
The plot is harmless: Professor Klump, a sweet guy with a weight problem, is settling into a romantic relationship with a beautiful colleague (played by Janet Jackson) when he discovers an element of Buddy Love mixed in with his DNA. Buddy Love emerges to ruin some high-stakes moments, and the frustrated professor turns to his girlfriend's valuable research to rid himself of the problem DNA--and thus, Buddy Love--forever.
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But the comedy--mostly crass, distasteful antics masquerading as humor--centers on the rest of the Klumps. Many of the scenes provoke laughter just because the characters are overweight.
In one, the Klumps take just seconds to wipe out an all-you-can-eat buffet. The youngest, Ernie Jr., the only Klump not played by Murphy, stuffs his mouth with ice cream right from the dispenser. And when a Klump passes gas--and there is a lot of that in the movie--it is powerful enough to set a restaurant on fire.
Funny stuff, huh?
I probably laughed, too. But if the buffet scene had featured the Klumps with their faces buried in, say, watermelons, I might have walked out in protest. Black folks depicted as unsophisticated, watermelon-eating bumpkins--you know the stereotype--might have been too much to take, even in a comedy, which by definition often preys on stereotypes.
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But I'll bet a lot of tongues clucked and eyes rolled when the Sacramento-based National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance warned that some scenes in "The Nutty Professor II" perpetuate the stereotype that fat people just sit around eating and breaking wind all day.
Lighten up, we say. It's just comedy.
And that's what aggravates my friend, who says fat people are always fair game for humiliation.
"Eddie Murphy can spend six hours creating a character," he said. "But he can take the makeup off and go back to his skinny body. But there are people who can't take the makeup off and are stuck in these bodies. It's a painful struggle."
Glynn Jackson, a Mount Rainier fashion show producer who sponsors beauty contests throughout the metropolitan area for full-figured women, said he, too, was bothered by some parts of the movie.
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"Any time people use weight as a forum for jokes and giggles, I don't find that funny," he said.
But Theresa Williams, 31, of Largo, a full-figured woman who won Jackson's Miss Metroplus Beauty Contest two years ago, said she saw the movie and laughed the whole way through. She said that as a child, she, too, learned to live with the fat jokes and teasing.
But she said that learning to love and accept every pound and inch of herself has given her the power to dismiss the fools. She says it also has enabled her to laugh at characters such as the Klumps without seeing herself and all fat people.
"It may have bothered other people, but it didn't bother me," she said of the movie. "My self-esteem level is extremely high."
I've wondered about the stranger sitting across the aisle from me in the movie theater that night. Was he able to dismiss the intended insult of the rowdy teenagers and enjoy the movie? Or was he insulted and disgusted by its exaggerated stereotypes?
But as my friend pointed out, there is some justice in the movie's end.
The fat guy gets the girl.
To comment or suggest a story idea, feel free to write me at 14402 Old Mill Rd., Suite 201, Upper Marlboro, Md. 20772; e-mail me at frazierL@washpost.com; or call me at 301-952-2083.
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