| TITLE: | "Deuce Bigalow" | AUTHOR: | H. Goldberg & R. Schneider |
| GENRE: | Comedy | CIRCA: | Present |
| LOCATION: | Los Angeles | PAGES: | 112 |
| SUB TO: | **** | SUB BY: | **** |
| READER: | SC | DATE: | December 1, 1999 |
LOGLINE: Genial but cash-poor man is forced into service as a gigolo when he accidentally destroys an expensive aquarium.
COMMENT SUMMARY: "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" is a good-natured comedy both funny and touching. This Rob Schneider star vehicle makes full use of the former SNL actor's talents, but it's also a surprisingly kind hearted script. Forced into service as a prostitute, Schneider satisfies his clients emotionally instead of sexually, making numerous friends—and falling in love—in the process. The story, while modest, is funny and smart, featuring a good balance of bawdy and traditional humor. The characters are all quirky losers whom we can't help but sympathize with. The dialogue is very funny. Structurally, the script moves well, develops quickly and never sags. Overall, "Deuce" is an engaging winner that could be the breakthrough for Schneider that Ace Ventura: Pet Detective was for Jim Carrey.
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BUDGET: Medium/Low
RECOMMENDATION: A Strong Consider
SYNOPSIS: Deuce Bigalow (Rob Schneider) is an aquarium cleaner who's just been fired for cleaning a tank while naked. At a pet shop, Deuce finds an advertisement from an expensive Malibu apartment complex. He answers the ad, and soon he's cleaning foul gunk from a Koi Pond. Deuce sees ANTOINE LACONTE, a handsome and sexy hunk, cavorting with two beautiful naked women. Deuce slips and falls into the pond. Antoine pulls him out. Deuce asks for some ice; Antoine takes Deuce into his plush apartment. While there, Deuce envies Antoine's lifestyle—and custom aquarium. Antoine says that women pay to have sex with him. Deuce can't believe anyone could be so fortunate.
Antoine's Chinese Lionfish is sick. Deuce fixes the aquarium's pH but says that the fish is critical. Antoine has to go to Europe for three weeks. He asks Deuce to watch the fish. Deuce agrees. The next day, however, Deuce accidentally destroys the aquarium and sets the kitchen on fire. NEIL, an aquarium expert, says that the aquarium alone costs $6000.
The phone rings. A woman asks Deuce to come over. As he begins to explain that he is not Antoine, the woman says she is naked. Deuce drives over. MARGARET, fortyish, dresses him up as a German tourist. Before they can have sex, her German Shepherd chases Deuce away. Margaret gives Deuce ten dollars. The next day, Deuce gets a visit from TJ HICKS, pimp. TJ offers to represent Deuce as a "man-whore," explaining that Antoine will kill Deuce if the apartment isn't repaired. Deuce agrees to work for TJ. His first client is JABBA LADY, a female Jabba the Hut. Deuce is so terrified by her that he claims he's gay. They play "Fast Food Trivia" instead of having sex.
His next client is TINA, so tall we never see her face. Instead of having sex, Deuce massages her giant feet. With his next client, RUTH, a Tourrette's Syndrome sufferer, Deuce goes to a ballpark where her cussing is appropriate. With each of his clients, in fact, Deuce finds alternatives to sex that leave the women happy. Deuce is approached by DETECTIVE FOWLER, LAPD. Fowler gives Deuce a choice: help bust Antoine or get busted himself. Deuce's next client is the lovely KATE. She doesn't realize he's a gigolo. They have a nice evening out together—no sex. Deuce really likes her.
Deuce and Kate begin dating. They have sex; Deuce discovers that Kate has one leg. He is shocked but says that he is the luckiest man alive to be with her. Unfortunately, Kate's roommates tell her that he is a gigolo. She refuses to see him again. Still desperate for money, now brokenhearted, Deuce takes on another client—Detective Fowler's wife, ELAINE, a spectacularly beautiful woman. She wants sex. Deuce wants to talk. Later, confronted again by Detective Fowler, Deuce offers the man marital advice: talk to your wife, tell her something nice. Fowler agrees to try.
Deuce is arrested on prostitution charges. But all his clients appear in the courtroom as witnesses, saying that Deuce never had sex with them. The judge dismisses the charges. Deuce's clients—his friends—and even Detective Fowler, now happy with his wife, help him rebuild Antoine's apartment. And they also help him win back the heart of the lovely, one-legged Kate.
COMMENTS: Rob Schneider's "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" is an unexpectedly warm-hearted comedy that succeeds on many levels. The script fearlessly lampoons racial stereotypes, the handicapped, and the otherwise challenged, but it does so in a way that is not dehumanizing.
The authors genuinely care for their characters, and that sentiment comes out most strikingly in the protagonist, Deuce, who actually connects with each of the women he is hired to have sex with in a deeper, more meaningful, emotional way.
The story is crafted with care, showing unusual depth and complexity for this genre (unlike Ace Ventura, for example, whose story seemed incidental to the action on screen). Instead of playing like a long string of skits, the story actually moves like a cohesive whole, finding effective humor within itself.
The characters are a lovable bunch of misfits who instantly win us over with their good-natured but unsuccessful attempts to live normal lives. From a huge obese woman to a Tourrette's sufferer, they are all more than just a joke; they are people. What at first glance appears to be just another crude fat joke sequence becomes instead a funny and compassionate friendship between Deuce and the Jabba the Hut woman—with important consequences later in the screenplay.
Yet in addition to this softer side, "Deuce" is also a risk-taking comedy, full of bawdy humor, including wet nipples, poop and penis jokes, and a ridiculous lap dance sequence. What separates the screenplay from being merely vulgar is the way it integrates these skits into a cohesive whole.
Detective Fowler, for example, who initially waves his penis at Deuce in an outrageously inappropriate scene, is revealed to be a man who fears losing his wife due to his own inadequacy. With Deuce's help, Fowler learns how to reconnect to his wife and save his failing marriage.
This blend of the outrageous and the empathic can be found in the latest string of big comedies, including There's Something About Mary and American Pie. "Deuce Bigalow" raises the stakes in both directions. It appears to have all the necessary elements to be a similar or even greater success.
Reader's Notes:
Well, you can't win them all. Deuce was a much better script than movie. The question is: Why?
I though Rob Schneider was unable to shake off his sidekick personality in the film. He never seemed comfortable as the lead (and focus of attention), and this seemed to keep the film from breaking out. In any case, what seemed like a promising script made for a very average comedy (though successful enough to merit a sequel).