Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999) |
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Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Comedy | Featurette | |
| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 1999 | ||
| Running Time | 84:53 (Case: 88) | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (60:26) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Language Select Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Mike Mitchell |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Warner Home Video |
Starring |
Rob Schneider William Forsythe Eddie Griffin Arija Bareikis Oded Fehr |
| Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
| RPI | $36.95 | Music | Teddy Castellucci |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) | |
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English Swedish Norwegian Hebrew English for the Hearing Impaired Danish Finnish Icelandic |
Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
In the game of life, Deuce Bigalow (Rob Schneider) is one of those people who has delusions of adequacy. His career as a fish tank maintenance man sadly keeps him at the bottom of society's food chain: a poor, celibate, inept human being. The highlight of this guy's day is purchasing sea snails from the local pet shop – each time the blond sales girl leans over the fish tank to retrieve said snails, her breasts just happen to dip themselves into the water. Yes, Deuce Bigalow is a major loser.
While cleaning a pond in a swank part of town, Deuce encounters Antoine (Oded Fehr), a rich playboy babe magnet who owns a $6000 aquarium. Antoine, actually a male prostitute, asks Deuce to house-sit his bonking palace during a trip overseas in order to look after his beloved tropical fish, on the condition that nothing is touched or broken. Well, you don't need to be psychic to guess that Deuce manages to smash the aquarium, putting him in the unenviable position of becoming a human dart board for Antoine's arsenal of medieval weapons upon his return. To pay for the damage, Deuce connives himself into Antoine's clientele list and even secures the services of a black pimp called T.J. Hicks (Eddie Griffin), who instructs our homeboy in the art of being a "man-whore". Through his dealings with female customers, Deuce learns that his natural charm and kindness makes these lonely women feel loved and special. One girl called Kate (Arija Bareikis) steals his heart, but he'll be no good to anyone if Antoine's wrath is unleashed...
Another comedy from Adam Sandler's film company Happy Madison, Deuce Bigalow has enough funny moments to sustain its 84 minute running time, although the general level of humour is pitched somewhere between Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Big Momma's House. Still, I surprised myself by laughing several times, and doing this review has renewed my desire to see the film again. Co-writer Rob Schneider (Saturday Night Live, the sidekick in Judge Dredd) does well to convince the audience that Deuce is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot, as well as fostering sympathy for the 'meaningful' parts of the story. The Mummy's Oded Fehr is suitably over-the-top as the mirror-loving "man-gina", and Eddie Griffin (the NYC dog owner in Armageddon) generates a few worthwhile chuckles. William Forsythe (The Rock) as a manic police detective trying to bust Deuce for prostitution fails to be anything but a poorly written character who drags down the other comparatively effective performances. Deuce's dad Bob, played wonderfully by Richard Riehle (Mighty Joe Young, Lethal Weapon 4, Black Rain), pinches the limelight from Schneider in the handful of scenes they share. Old Bob's recollections of how he met Deuce's mother in a Bangkok strip club is droll humour at its best (side note: Schneider is part Filipino).
Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo is the kind of lightweight, bio-degradable fare that would suit a casual Saturday afternoon with chocolate biscuits and B52 shots. The comedy is painfully obvious most of the time, with the occasional well-executed gag thrown in to tug you along to the next set piece. The message of the film – that we all respond to (and deserve) a loving touch despite our perceived disabilities – saves it from an easy dismissal. Living alone in an aquarium of our own design is no fun, especially when the fortunes of others are clearly visible. If a loveable dork like Deuce can make a difference, perhaps we all harbour the same potential.
It seems that PAL regions have been blessed with the same stunning transfer created for the Region 1 release. Framed at a comfortable 1.85:1 and 16x9 enhanced, Deuce Bigalow looks as rich as the film is tacky. With the Sony DVP-S7700 on the rack for testing, I was interested to see how this DVD would perform...my TV was being fed component video for the first time.
Sharpness was exemplary, although the Sony's characteristic softening of the image took some getting used to. The end result was a lush, natural image devoid of harsh contrasts or edge enhancement, yet with beautifully detailed foreground and background elements. The whiskers in Antoine's carefully landscaped beard stood out easily, as did the shrubbery in the fish pond Deuce falls into. Blacks were solid (the Sony handles black levels quite well) and shadow detail was evident when it was supposed to be.
The colours were perfectly saturated for this sugary LA fairy tale, with the predominately primary colour scheme benefiting from the careful compression of the pristine source elements. Skin tones were fine and no colour bleed was visible.
As mentioned above, the transfer element used must have been well-maintained, because this transfer contains no blemishes, scratches, dippy frames, or speckles. However, film grain was visible occasionally. Compression artefacts were also non-existent; the bit rate averaged 7.5 megabits per second. The RSDL layer change at 60:26 was fast and unobtrusive.
Overall, the cinematography of Peter Lyons Collister (The Replacement Killers, Halloween 4, and he also directed the 2nd unit here) has been well and truly captured by this stunning transfer.
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While the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio fidelity is good, the actual sound design is pretty laid back.
Dialogue was clear and distortion free. ADR was noticeable here and there; the excellent imaging properties of the Sony player made it all the more jarring. But that's not really a complaint.
Many opportunities to layer directional effects into the mix went begging, hence this soundtrack is predominately front-staged, with sharp stereo imaging and crisp sound reproduction. The dynamic range was ably demonstrated when Antoine's expensive fish tank succumbs to gravity and explodes on the stone floor. Subwoofer contributions were limited to a few bass notes from the music by Teddy Castellucci, who also supplied the original score for The Wedding Singer. An unusual sequence featuring a vicious dog that throws itself at doors in an attempt to maul Deuce sounded quite startling. The Jabba Lady's colossal footsteps (also emanating from behind a closed door) were the low frequency high point of the film.
The surrounds were used merely to add depth to the soundfield and pepper some ambient effects around the room. Despite the unambitious nature of the soundtrack, Deuce Bigalow still manages a glossy presentation that shines best when turned up loud. Note that the packaging promises "Languages in Dolby Surround 5.1: English". Close, but no cigar.
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NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
Our version misses out on:
Region 1 misses out on:
These extras would have fleshed out our disc more, but they don't amount to anything substantial, and the promotional trailers are better off in the DVD author's recycle basket. Just go for the Region 4 release.
Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo is a situation comedy that has more low spots than high ones, leaving you wondering where the $18 million got spent...perhaps on The Matrix send-up? And yet, it still manages to generate a retarded sort of charm about it that already has this reviewer itching for another spin around the block. Rent it first unless you're a big fan of Schneider, wet shirt competitions, or you're just curious to see how a male gigolo behaves in his natural habitat.
Visually this DVD is stunning. Sonically the ho-hum sound design is presented as it might be on opening night in a THX-certified cinema. The thin spread of extras may cause you to try before you buy this puppy.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Sony DVP-S7700, using Component output |
| Display | Loewe Ergo (81cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Denon AVD-2000 Dolby Digital decoder. |
| Amplification | Arcam AV50 5 x 50W amplifier |
| Speakers | Front: ALR/Jordan Entry 5M, Centre: ALR/Jordan 4M, Rear: ALR/Jordan Entry 2M, Subwoofer: B&W ASW-1000 (active) |