Cast: Rob Schneider, Oded Fehr, William Forsythe, Arija Bareikis, Eddie Griffin, Bree Turner, Amy Poehler
Director: Mike Mitchell
Producers: Sid Ganis, Barry Bernardi
Screenplay: Harris Goldberg & Rob Schneider
Cinematography: Peter Lyons Collister
Music: Teddy Castellucci
U.S. Distributor: Touchstone Pictures
To start out this review on an upbeat note, I have identified one positive aspect of Deuce Bigalow, the debut feature from Adam Sandler's new production company -- it's short. A piece of cinematic flotsam in a sea of Oscar-contending two and three-hour pictures, this movie manages not to overstay its welcome by too much. Granted, there isn't sufficient worthwhile humor to justify a feature-length film, but there are enough funny moments scattered throughout to keep the movie-going experience from descending into the realm of pure tedium. Deuce Bigalow may be moronic, but it's a shade above painful.
Any similarity in the title to Ace Ventura is certainly not coincidental. Both films are aimed squarely at the same target audience: 12 and 13-year old boys. (Nominally, because of the "R" rating, they shouldn't be able to see it, but when has that ever stopped them?) While flatulence and bathroom humor are not for everyone, here's a quick litmus test of whether you're likely to be entertained by Deuce Bigalow. Does this sound funny: two people in a men's room are carrying on a normal conversation while someone in a nearby stall has a noisy attack of diarrhea? Or this: a man reclining on a bed rolls over to see that he nearly lain down on a used condom? Admittedly, the appeal of this sort of comedy is a subjective matter, but Deuce Bigalow is likely to find its strongest bastion of support in the pre-teen and early teen male members of the audience.
Rob Schneider plays the title character, a fish tank cleaner with few social skills and no discernable intelligence. On the Dumb and Dumber scale, this guy makes a leisure suit look smart. Through a series of not-very-interesting coincidences, Deuce ends up house-sitting for wealthy gigolo Antoine Laconte (Oded Fehr) while the guy is out of the country on business. Antoine has a bad reputation. He collects ancient weapons, and isn't afraid to use them. ("They double their value if they have taken a life.") So when Deuce effectively trashes his living room, he has to come up with $6000 for repairs in three weeks or face life in a body cast - if at all. Unable to procure that kind of money through his legitimate job, he decides to make a career change into Antonio's line of work. After striking out trying to make it on his own as a "man whore", he agrees to work for T.J. (Eddie Griffin), a pimp, who procures him all sorts of unusual clients. Of course, Deuce falls in love with one of them, a sweet girl named Kate (Arija Bareikis). He begins dating her on the side, but it's only a matter of time before she learns the truth Meanwhile, a strung-out police detective (William Forsythe) shadows Deuce, frequently threatening him, then dropping his trousers and asking advice about his penis.
Deuce Bigalow has the courage and bad taste to be blatantly politically incorrect. The film pokes fun at fat people, tall people, the blind, victims of Tourette's Syndrome, and those with prosthetic limbs. While the movie isn't overtly nasty in any of these cases, those with thin skins may be offended. (If you thought Mr. Magoo was unfair to the seeing-impaired, Deuce Bigalow will not be high on your favorite movies list.) In general, I like this sort of objectionable comedy (after all, it's the kind of thing Monty Python did best), but most of what first time director Mike Mitchell puts on the screen is too obvious to be truly funny. Maybe he lightened up in a fruitless attempt to get a PG-13 rating, or perhaps he wanted to limit the potential backlash. Whatever the reason, this material generates mild chuckles when it should cause uncontrollable guffaws. On too many occasions, the sex comedy seems emasculated. And there are (gag!) a few attempted serious scenes.
Rob Schneider (late of Saturday Night Live) has never done much in the movies, and it's not hard to understand why. Aside from not having any obvious acting talent, he lacks screen presence. From a certain perspective, this can be an asset - even the biggest losers in the audience will feel superior to him - but it's mostly a detriment. Schneider can't hold our attention, let alone capture our sympathy. His supporting cast is largely comprised of unknowns and those who have had bit parts in other movies.
In essence, Deuce Bigalow is half moronic comedy and half romantic comedy. These two aspects don't marry well - the sweetness of the latter is constantly warring with the obnoxiousness of the former. Occasionally a movie like There's Something About Mary succeeds in this arena, but Deuce Bigalow isn't put together with the requisite skill to get things right. The characters are too flat and the situations are too contrived. Aside from those instances when Mitchell massages the material for an occasional, genuine laugh, Deuce Bigalow is basically a waste. This deuce doesn't have an ace up his sleeve.
© 1999 James Berardinelli