DOCTOR DETROIT

Introverted geek Clifford Skridlow is a professor of comparative literature at the financially strapped Monroe College in Chicago.

Smooth Walker, a pimp, owes $80,000 to "Mom", a gruff Chicago mob boss. Attempting to weasel out of his debt, Smooth invents a fictitious mobster, the flamboyant "Doctor Detroit", a ruthless chiropractor who allegedly is overrunning Smooth's turf. Smooth sees Clifford out to dinner alone at a restaurant, and decides to enlist him to pose as the "Doctor." Smooth and his girls Monica, Jasmine, Karen, and Thelma, party with Clifford and give him the best night of his life. The next morning, during a faculty meeting, Clifford gets a phone call from the girls and learns about their troubles with Mom, that Smooth has skipped town, and that according to Smooth, they are now Clifford's girls. Clifford agrees to assume the persona of Doctor Detroit in an effort to help them out of their jam.

Meanwhile, Monroe College anticipates a corporate endowment from Rousehorn Consolidated Industries to be presented by its CEO, Harmon Rousehorn. If the contribution is large enough, it will allow the college to remain open.

While Clifford is teaching classes, grading papers, catering a faculty party and assisting in hosting the visiting CEO, his Doctor Detroit alter ego has to find a way to get Thelma out of a solicitation charge, hold Mom at bay, and appear at the Players Ball to be proclaimed the new King of the Pimps while simultaneously appearing at Monroe College's annual Alumni Dinner. When Mom shows up at the Players Ball, she figures out that Doctor Detroit and Professor Skridlow are one and the same, and duels him with sword-length kebab skewers in front of the assembled academics. Mom is defeated, and the two functions combine into one joyous, spectacular party, as the ultimate fates of all are revealed, including Clifford's marriage to Karen.

Clifford is revealed as both Doctor Detroit and Professor Skridlow during a showdown with Mom, defeats her, and the two worlds combine into a celebratory party where Clifford marries Karen.

The ending delivers a comic resolution where Clifford’s two identities collide in dramatic fashion, leading to the defeat of the antagonist, Mom, and a merging of his academic and criminal personas. This finale underscores the film’s celebration of embracing one’s inner eccentricity and finding unexpected happiness by stepping outside one's comfort zone.