Henry Crawford is the titular absent-minded professor busy at work in his laboratory. He has a girlfriend, but she is getting frustrated at his repeatedly missing their dates and spending more time with his experiments than with her. One day, Prof. Crawford makes an incredible discovery a form of rubber that defies gravity with each bounce, which he names Flubber. Hopefully, with this invention Crawford can prove to his love that he's not just a hopeless loser stuck doing dead-end research.

Idiots Taylor Dupp and Murphy Wegg flee their humdrum existence in Dayton, Ohio for the glamour of Hollywood. Murphy turns his complete lack of talent into a career as a television producer ("The Pac-Man Show"), while Taylor is unjustly accused of murder.