Eddie Murphy stars as shy Dr. Sherman Klump, a kind, brilliant, ‘calorifically challenged’ genetic professor. When beautiful Carla Purty joins the university faculty, Sherman grows desperate to whittle his 400-pound frame down to size and win her heart. So, with one swig of his experimental fat-reducing serum, Sherman becomes ‘Buddy Love’, a fast-talking, pumped-up , plumped down Don Juan.

A scientist creates Proteus, an organic super computer with artificial intelligence which becomes obsessed with human beings, and in particular the creators wife.