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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005)

Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005)

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Released 29-Dec-2005

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Comedy Menu Animation & Audio
Dolby Digital Trailer
Featurette-Making Of
Featurette-The Casting Lounge
Featurette-TJ's Float Crib
Featurette-So You Want To Be A Man-Whore
Featurette-Comedy Central Special
Featurette-Man-Ho 101
Deleted Scenes
Trailer-Bewitched, Into The Blue, The Longest Yard
Trailer-The Lords Of Dogtown, Ringers: Lord Of The Fans, Stealth
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2005
Running Time 83
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Ads Then Menu
Region Coding 2,4,5 Directed By Mike Bigelow
Studio
Distributor

Sony Pictures Home Entertain
Starring Rob Schneider
Eddie Griffin
Jeroen Krabbé
Til Schweiger
Douglas Sills
Carlos Ponce
Charles Keating
Hanna Verboom
Kostas Sommer
Bastiaan Ragas
Zoe Telford
Miranda Raison
Federico Dordei
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI $39.95 Music Ben Lee
James L. Venable


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
Spanish
Dutch
Hindi
Portuguese
English for the Hearing Impaired
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits Yes

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    After the death of his wife and an extremely unfortunate dolphin incident, Deuce Bigalow leaves the USA after receiving a call from his ex-pimp TJ (Eddie Griffin)in Amsterdam. TJ informs Deuce that business is good there, where just about anything's legal. The only problem? Someone's been murdering the man-whores of the area and TJ is the prime suspect. To help out his old friend Deuce agrees to go back to man-whoring and sets himself up as bait for the killer.

    The original Deuce Bigalow was a mildly diverting, light comedy. This new adventure is anything but. The gross-out humour is crass and in some cases offensive, however it is not without its charms. The clientele in Amsterdam make the original Californian customer base look tame by comparison. For example, we have a Russian female with male genitalia for a nose, and another with a gaping hole in her neck that requires an electronic voice box to speak. However, as in the first film, Deuce always makes his dates feel better about themselves.

    The film's plot is by the numbers, but the inclusion of the European Man-Whore association with its ancient traditions does lead to a few laughs. The performances are what you would expect for this type of film. Eddie Griffin as TJ is mildly amusing with his man-whore and she-john laced vocabulary. He also unleashes several new terms that are quite outrageous. Rob Schnieder is basically the same lovable $10 whore from the last film, except this time the humour doesn't work anywhere near as well. For Rob Schnieder fans European Gigolo is not his worst film (that accolade belongs to The Animal), but unless he comes up with something decent in the future I predict a very bleak outlook for the diminutive comic.

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Transfer Quality

Video

   For a below average film, Columbia Tristar have given Deuce Bigalow European Gigolo a near reference quality transfer.

    The film is presented as it was theatrically at 1:85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced for widescreen viewing.

    The transfer has a very sharp image with no aliasing or edge enhancement issues. Black levels are solid with extremely well rendered shadow detail. There are no low level noise problems found anywhere in the transfer.

    The colour palette is vibrant with no image bleeding.

    The transfer is clear of both film and video artefacts.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The transfer has been given three Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks.

    Dialogue is always clear, and with the exception of the occasional ADR change there are no lip sync problems.

    The film's musical score by Ben Lee & James Venable is standard fare for this genre, and is peppered with the usual chart toppers.

    Surround channel usage is very well defined, with rear channels filled with directional effects and ambient noise. If only action films were this consistent with their audio presentations.

    The subwoofer adds strong reverberation levels when needed.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Menu Animation & Audio

Dolby Digital Trailer

Featurette-Making Of

    This two-part Making-Of segment is more of a "behind the scenes" special. Cast members and crew use camcorders to film on-set hijinks and catalogue their travels, filming airports and so forth. It's not bad, with several funny moments that make it worthwhile.

Featurette - So You Want to be a Man-Whore

    There are four "So You Want to be a Man-Whore" infomercials that are poorly made both in taste and technique. Mind you, if seeing humpbacked phone sex operators is your thing then enjoy.

Featurette - TJ's Float Crib

    TJ's "Float Crib" is a skit that takes a tour through his tricked out boat. This short feature is mildly amusing for what it is.

Featurette - Casting Lounge

    The Casting Lounge segment is there to basically give the fans some random nudity. We are treated to the casting session for the wet t-shirt woman at the beginning of the movie. I was appalled in a good way to see how far young ladies will disrobe for a part.

Featurette - Comedy Central's Reel Comedy

    This program provides an in-depth look at the main characters in the film. It's your basic EPK featurette.

Featurette - A Burger and a Bentley

    This featurette involves a scantily-clad Rob Schneider washing Eddie Griffin's Bentley whilst eating a cheeseburger. It's a take-off of Paris Hilton's commercial. Not bad.

Deleted Scenes

    Two deleted scenes that do little to add to the substance of the picture, and deserved to be excised.

Trailers

    Trailers for Bewitched, Into The Blue, The Longest Yard, The Lords Of Dogtown, Ringers: Lord Of The Fans and Stealth

Censorship

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    All versions currently available appear to be the same.

Summary

  Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo is a pale imitation of its predecessor, which was merely adequate to begin with. There are a few low-brow gags that work, but it's mostly an uninspired misfire of a film. However, the transfer is excellent and the extras are plentiful.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Greg Morfoot (if interested here is my bio)
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-535, using Component output
DisplayLG 76cm Widescreen Flatron Television. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderSony HT-K215. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationSony HT-K215
Speakers fronts-paradigm titans, centre &rear Sony - radio parts subbie

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