Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo
Little Black Book Edition on DVD
The movies made by former Saturday Night Live alumni have, for the most part,
been pretty terrible.
Rare home runs include Wayne’s World and Tommy Boy, and base hits include
Coneheads and A Night at the Roxbury. Closer to being good than bad, and falling
somewhere in between all the others, is Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, a surprisingly
amusing yet not-quite-as-amusing-as-it-could-be comedy starring Rob Schneider.
Deuce Bigalow is a professional fish tank cleaner. It’s a crappy job,
and he doesn’t have any money, or friends, or self-esteem. The one joy
in his life is getting the cute girl at the pet store to grab him the fish
on the bottom of the tank, because certain parts of her body just might be
exposed to cold water.
One day, a client asks him to look after his place while he’s away on
business. It’s a pretty swingin’ pad, and he can stay there if
he wants, provided he doesn’t answer the phone. As luck would have it,
Deuce invariably ends up destroying the very fish tank he was hired to look
after. Needing many thousands of dollars in very little time, he decides to
answer the phone.
The client, as it turns out, is a gigolo,
and Deuce Bigalow (who coincidentally has a name that rhymes with the profession)
takes over the role.
During his exploits, he meets a series of interesting women, but he eventually
makes enough money to buy everything he needs. It’s not over yet, however…
Deuce Bigalow has some genuinely funny moments. It also has some that don’t
work. It also also has some that start out okay, but get less funny the longer
they go on. Sometimes it relies too much on toilet humor when normal humor
would have worked better. Overall it works pretty well, and at less than an
hour and a half it won’t take up too much of your time - and how's that
for a recommendation?
Rob Schneider is likable enough in the lead, but William Forsythe in a bizarre
role is hilarious to watch. We also see smaller roles from the likes of Eddie
Griffin and Oded Fehr.
It’s a sometimes-cute movie that doesn’t too often take things
too far. There are worse movies out there, and there are worse ways to kill
an hour and a half.
The new “Little Black Book Edition” of the film doesn’t
really seem to have anything worthwhile to offer to attract upgraders. The
1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer looks solid, with rich colors and good
detail, but it’s by no means noteworthy. The 5.1 Dolby Digital track
is a disappointment, with sometimes muddy dialogue and sound effects that are
too loud. Bass is strong, but it can’t make up for the flaws.
Extras include an 8-minute fluff featurette that is completely by-the-book,
a 3-minute director’s video diary (really boring), and a “Fly-on-the-Set” featurette
that shows a few scenes in the process of filming. The only thing worth watching,
really, is the deleted scenes section, which offers up a couple of amusing
moments.
It’s not a bad presentation if you don’t own the film, but most
likely not worthy of a double dip.
Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, from Buena Vista Home Entertainment
88 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) 16x9 enhanced, Dolby Digital 5.1
Starring Rob Schneider, William Forsythe, Eddie Griffin, Arija Bareikis, Oded
Fehr
Produced by Sid Ganis, Barry Bernardi
Written by Harris Goldberg & Rob Schneider, directed by Mike Mitchell
