Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo
3/4
Starring: Rob Schneider, Eddie Griffin, Arija Bareikis, Oded Fehr
Rated R for Sexual Content, Language and Crude Humor
The bottom line for comedy is whether or not it makes the audience laugh. There are other factors that go into making one and reviewing one, but ultimately that is what comes down to. And I did laugh while watching "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo." I wasn't always proud of myself (this is not the most well-directed or well-written movie comedy), but I laughed a lot during this movie. Sometimes quite hard. Even better, there's a core of sweetness to the story that makes it work even better.
Deuce Bigalow (Schneider) is the kind of loser that makes other losers look good. He has a job as an aquarium cleaner that only pays enough for a broom closet of an apartment. He's so bad at picking up women that after saving his customer's fish, he asks her if she wants him to stay and be a fatherly influence. That's when he meets mega-stud Antoine Laconte (Fehr), a gigolo who lives a life that Deuce could only dream of. After saving his prized fish, Antoine asks him to look after his aquarium while he is out of the country for three weeks. He gets into trouble when he accidentally destroys the tank. Now Deuce needs to come up with six large...fast (Antoine has a fearsome reputation, and for good reason). So he decides to try his hand at his employer's line of work.
Bad taste is the lifeblood of a movie like this. The worse the better. A film like this cannot have any taboos or sacred cows. "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" doesn't, and that's why it works. This movie is rude, crude, lowbrow and most decidedly not politically correct. It is also very funny. Everyone and everything is a target. What makes it work is that it isn't mean. Deuce is a super nice guy, and watching him try to be warm and encouraging in the most outrageous circumstances leads to the film's biggest laughs. An example is how he encourages his narcoleptic date to dance.
Rob Schneider is well-cast in the role (not surprising, since he co-wrote the screenplay). He is a master of embarrassment, but he's also good at playing a guy who tries to do the right thing in the most unthinkable of circumstances. Really, he's the anti-Seth Rogen. He also has nice chemistry with Arija Bareikis, who plays a client-turned-love interest. Schneider clearly does not have a lot of dramatic range, but he's solid enough to get us on his side. Without a doubt the sunny personality actress Arija Bareikis gives her character and the natural chemistry the two actors have helps a lot.
Not everything works. One element that doesn't work is the detective character played by veteran tough guy William Forsythe. He shows up every now and then to foam at the mouth and threaten Deuce with arrest and blackmail...and also pester him with questions about his little soldier. This character is not remotely believable (even within the context of a silly romp like this). It was a bad idea and should have been jettisoned at the screenplay stage. And I could also have done without all the "man whore" lingo (there are far too many variations of it to count). It's not cute and it isn't funny. In fact, it comes from the same middle-schooler fear of sex mentality that Seth Rogen's obsessive "no homo" pronouncements do. And it's equally annoying.
This is not a classic comedy. Or even a very good one. But I saw it for what it was, and I laughed enough and enjoyed the romance enough that I had a good time. That's enough for me.
Starring: Rob Schneider, Eddie Griffin, Arija Bareikis, Oded Fehr
Rated R for Sexual Content, Language and Crude Humor
The bottom line for comedy is whether or not it makes the audience laugh. There are other factors that go into making one and reviewing one, but ultimately that is what comes down to. And I did laugh while watching "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo." I wasn't always proud of myself (this is not the most well-directed or well-written movie comedy), but I laughed a lot during this movie. Sometimes quite hard. Even better, there's a core of sweetness to the story that makes it work even better.
Deuce Bigalow (Schneider) is the kind of loser that makes other losers look good. He has a job as an aquarium cleaner that only pays enough for a broom closet of an apartment. He's so bad at picking up women that after saving his customer's fish, he asks her if she wants him to stay and be a fatherly influence. That's when he meets mega-stud Antoine Laconte (Fehr), a gigolo who lives a life that Deuce could only dream of. After saving his prized fish, Antoine asks him to look after his aquarium while he is out of the country for three weeks. He gets into trouble when he accidentally destroys the tank. Now Deuce needs to come up with six large...fast (Antoine has a fearsome reputation, and for good reason). So he decides to try his hand at his employer's line of work.
Bad taste is the lifeblood of a movie like this. The worse the better. A film like this cannot have any taboos or sacred cows. "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" doesn't, and that's why it works. This movie is rude, crude, lowbrow and most decidedly not politically correct. It is also very funny. Everyone and everything is a target. What makes it work is that it isn't mean. Deuce is a super nice guy, and watching him try to be warm and encouraging in the most outrageous circumstances leads to the film's biggest laughs. An example is how he encourages his narcoleptic date to dance.
Rob Schneider is well-cast in the role (not surprising, since he co-wrote the screenplay). He is a master of embarrassment, but he's also good at playing a guy who tries to do the right thing in the most unthinkable of circumstances. Really, he's the anti-Seth Rogen. He also has nice chemistry with Arija Bareikis, who plays a client-turned-love interest. Schneider clearly does not have a lot of dramatic range, but he's solid enough to get us on his side. Without a doubt the sunny personality actress Arija Bareikis gives her character and the natural chemistry the two actors have helps a lot.
Not everything works. One element that doesn't work is the detective character played by veteran tough guy William Forsythe. He shows up every now and then to foam at the mouth and threaten Deuce with arrest and blackmail...and also pester him with questions about his little soldier. This character is not remotely believable (even within the context of a silly romp like this). It was a bad idea and should have been jettisoned at the screenplay stage. And I could also have done without all the "man whore" lingo (there are far too many variations of it to count). It's not cute and it isn't funny. In fact, it comes from the same middle-schooler fear of sex mentality that Seth Rogen's obsessive "no homo" pronouncements do. And it's equally annoying.
This is not a classic comedy. Or even a very good one. But I saw it for what it was, and I laughed enough and enjoyed the romance enough that I had a good time. That's enough for me.
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