Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo
USA 1999
Reviewed by Keith Perry
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
Director
Mike Mitchell
Producers
Sid Ganis
Barry Bernardi
Screenplay
Harris Goldberg
Rob Schneider
Director of Photography
Peter Lyons Collister
Editors
George Bowers
Lawrence Jordan
Production Designer
Alan Au
Music
Teddy Castellucci
©Touchstone Pictures
Production Companies
Touchstone Pictures presents a Happy Madison production in association with Out of the Blue Entertainment
Executive Producers
Adam Sandler
Jack Giarraputo
Co-producers
Alex Siskin
Harris Goldberg
Associate Producer
Michelle Archer
Production Supervisor
Orlando Unit:
Wayne Morris
Production Co-ordinators
Ralph Bertelle
Orlando Unit:
Leslie Stevens
Unit Production Manager
Karen Hughes
Location Managers
Michael Neale
Greg Lazzaro
2nd Unit Directors
Bruce Hendricks
Peter Lyons Collister
Assistant Directors
Cara Giallanza
Eric Fox Hays
John Chip Touhey
2nd Unit:
Eric Fox Hays
Sean Hobin
Jules Kovisars
Orlando Unit:
Charissa Forth
Script Supervisors
Nancy Karlin
2nd Unit:
Gina Michel
Orlando Unit:
Katie Waters
Casting
Marcia Ross
Donna Morong
Gail Goldberg
Associate:
Lisa Rochette
Orlando Unit:
Ellen Jacoby
ADR Group Voice:
Loop Troop
2nd Unit Directors
of Photography
Michael Delahoussaye
Steven Poster
Charles S. Cohen
Camera Operators
John A. Connell
Peter Mercurio
Orlando Unit, Underwater:
Jordan Klein Sr
Animatronic Effects Design/Creation
Stan Winston Studio
Visual Effects
Available Light Ltd
Additional:
Buena Vista Imaging
Modern Videofilm
Special Effects Co-ordinator
David Blitstein
Koi Puppeteers
Lindsay MacGowan
Bob Mano
Lionfish Puppeteers
Jeff Edwards
Jason Matthews
Editor
Doron Shauly
Set Decorator
F. Beauchamp Herb
Storyboard Artists
Michael Cachuela
Jason Brubaker
Costume Designer
Molly Maginnis
Costume Supervisor
James H. Lapidus
Make-up Department Head
Nena Smarz
Make-up Artist
Jackie Dobbie
Hair Department Head
Jeri Baker Sadler
Key Hairstylists
Candy L. Walken
David J. Blair
Titles
Buena Vista Imaging
Orchestrations
Pete Anthony
Jon Kull
Midi Arrangements
Tom Mgrdichian
Music Supervisors
Michael Dilbeck
Associate:
Lori Lahman
Executive in Charge of Music, Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group
Kathy Nelson
Music Co-ordinator
Wende Geikie
Supervising Music Editor
Steve Lotwis
Music Editor
Stuart Grusin
Score Recordist/Mixer
Gabe Veltri
Music Consultant
Michele Wernick
Soundtrack
"No Worries"by Hepcat; "Call Me" (1) by Blondie, (2) by Emilia; "Come On, Come On", "Can't Get Enough of You Baby" by Smashmouth; "We Trying to Stay Alive" by Wyclef Jean Featuring The Refugee Camp All-Stars, contains a sample of "Stayin' Alive" by Bee Gees; "Connected" by Stereo MCs, contains a sample of "Let Me (Be Your Lover)" by Jimmy 'Bo' Horne; "You Sexy Thing" by Hot Chocolate; "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye; "Spill the Wine" by Eric Burdon & War; "Charge Away" by Don Great; "Sukiyaki" by Steve Griffen; "Magnet and Steel" by Walter Egan; "Can't Smile without You" by Sean Beal; "Get Down Tonight" by K.C. & the Sunshine Band; "I'm Not in Love" by 10cc; "Lift Me Up" by Jeff Lynne; "Strangers in the Night"
Choreography
Adam M. Shankman
Sound Mixers
David Kelson
Orlando Unit:
Joe Foglia
Re-recording Mixers
Elliot Tyson
Tom Dahl
Supervising Sound Editors
Elmo Weber
Gary S. Gerlich
Sound Editors
Russell Farmaco
Klaus Peintner
Ai-Ling Lee
Orada Jusatayanond
David Luke Peifer
Foley
Walkers:
Monique Reymond
Eric Alexander
Recordist:
Klaus Peintner
Stunt Co-ordinator
Gregg Smrz
Animal Consultant
Gary Gero
Animal Co-ordinator
Thomas L. Gunderson
Animal Trainer
Stacy M. Basil
Fish Wrangler
Mark S. Weitz
Cast
Rob Schneider
Deuce Bigalow
William Forsythe
Detective Chuck Fowler
Eddie Griffin
T.J. Hicks
Arija Bareikis
Kate
Oded Fehr
Antoine Laconte
Gail O'Grady
Claire
Richard Riehle
Bob Bigalow
Jacqueline Obradors
Elaine Fowler
Big Boy
Jabba Lady
Amy Poehler
Ruth
Dina Platias
Bergita
Torsten Voges
Tina
Deborah Lemen
Carol
Bree Turner
Allison
Andrew Shaifer
Neil
Allen Covert
restaurant manager
Elle Tanner Schneider
Girl of America
Barry Cutler
Doctor Rosenblatt
Jacqueline Titone
Sally
Karlee Holden
Megan
Chloé Hult
Amber
Natalie Garner
Natalie
Robb Skyler
district attorney
Jason Wall
bailiff
John Harrington Bland
patient
Caroline Ambrose
mother
Louise Rapport
old woman in line
Pilar Schneider
old lady at restaurant
Shain Holden
waiter at pool
Gabrielle Tuite
beautiful Porsche woman
Charlie Curtis
half-dressed girl
Thomas Bellin
Flora Burke
elderly couple in car
[uncredited]
Marlo Thomas
Margaret
Norm MacDonald
bartender
Ron Soble
judge
Certificate
15
Distributor
Buena Vista International (UK)
7,960 feet
88 minutes 27 seconds
Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS
In Colour
Prints by
Technicolor
Review
Hollywood's fascination with the oldest profession continues apace. Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, produced by Disney's Touchstone studios, must be one of the first to feature no transactional sex whatsoever. The film perversely uses the milieu of hookers and pimps to press home the standard Disney message that everyone has their own special place in the world. When Deuce becomes a low-rent gigolo, his pimp T. J. gives him the most troublesome clients, including an obese woman, a giantess with a glandular disorder and a narcoleptic. These women may repel Deuce, but he offers them all compassionately happy alternatives to loveless sex. For example, provided with the shy Ruth who has Tourette's Syndrome, Deuce takes her to a baseball game, where her insults become a rallying cry for the crowd.
As if to answer the question of why the disabled should not be entitled to sexual satisfaction, the film-makers give Deuce's girlfriend Kate a false leg, revealed in a scene that lampoons The Crying Game. Given Hollywood's regrettable tendency for patronising minorities, it's almost refreshing to see Kate's blind flatmate, Bergita, be such an incompetent. She seems a sop to all those resourceful blind loners served up over the decades to undermine assumed audience prejudice. Ultimately, everyone in this film has problems with their body, except Antoine and a woman who works in Deuce's local pet shop - both of whom are depicted as beyond the reach of ordinary mortals. Physical perfection, the film maintains, goes hand in hand with unavailability.
Deuce is content to be an amalgam of its superior predecessors. The prostitution-being-used-to-pay-for-damaged-property set-up is lifted from Risky Business, while there is a twist along the lines of Midnight Cowboy (1969) in making the naive male lead a hooker rather than the pimp. (The burst of Blondie's 'Call Me' on the soundtrack refers directly to American Gigolo, and is used to underscore how Deuce's feeble posing falls short of Richard Gere's narcissistic routines in that film.)
Rob Schneider has a face doomed to sit atop a dirty vest and baggy shorts; he's perfect as Deuce, the unshaven cherub. It is a shame, however, to see William Forsythe - one of the best character actors around - slumming it in the role of Detective Fowler, whose main concern is the girth of his member. Debut-feature director Mike Mitchell keeps the proceedings mercifully brisk. With comedian Adam Sandler as executive producer, there's a slew of scatological jokes, but these don't conceal the script's moments of insight when it comes to money, sex and work. Deuce is feminised by his transformation into a male prostitute - a process reflected in his coiffure and depilation at a beauty salon. Expanding on a theme The Full Monty touched on, Deuce portrays how a disenfranchised man's attempt to reassert himself through commodified sex leads to further emasculation. T. J.'s jargon picks up on this: Deuce has become a "he-bitch", and his penis is now a "mangina" or a "he-pussy", while T. J. himself is a "male madam". Following such lamentable homegrown films as Love, Honour and Obey, Deuce Bigalow is another reminder that, despite its crassness and questionable taste, a bad US comedy is still preferable to a bad British one.
Credits
- Director
- Mike Mitchell
- Producers
- Sid Ganis
- Barry Bernardi
- Screenplay
- Harris Goldberg
- Rob Schneider
- Director of Photography
- Peter Lyons Collister
- Editors
- George Bowers
- Lawrence Jordan
- Production Designer
- Alan Au
- Music
- Teddy Castellucci
- ©Touchstone Pictures
- Production Companies
- Touchstone Pictures presents a Happy Madison production in association with Out of the Blue Entertainment
- Executive Producers
- Adam Sandler
- Jack Giarraputo
- Co-producers
- Alex Siskin
- Harris Goldberg
- Associate Producer
- Michelle Archer
- Production Supervisor
- Orlando Unit:
- Wayne Morris
- Production Co-ordinators
- Ralph Bertelle
- Orlando Unit:
- Leslie Stevens
- Unit Production Manager
- Karen Hughes
- Location Managers
- Michael Neale
- Greg Lazzaro
- 2nd Unit Directors
- Bruce Hendricks
- Peter Lyons Collister
- Assistant Directors
- Cara Giallanza
- Eric Fox Hays
- John Chip Touhey
- 2nd Unit:
- Eric Fox Hays
- Sean Hobin
- Jules Kovisars
- Orlando Unit:
- Charissa Forth
- Script Supervisors
- Nancy Karlin
- 2nd Unit:
- Gina Michel
- Orlando Unit:
- Katie Waters
- Casting
- Marcia Ross
- Donna Morong
- Gail Goldberg
- Associate:
- Lisa Rochette
- Orlando Unit:
- Ellen Jacoby
- ADR Group Voice:
- Loop Troop
- 2nd Unit Directors
of Photography - Michael Delahoussaye
- Steven Poster
- Charles S. Cohen
- Camera Operators
- John A. Connell
- Peter Mercurio
- Orlando Unit, Underwater:
- Jordan Klein Sr
- Animatronic Effects Design/Creation
- Stan Winston Studio
- Visual Effects
- Available Light Ltd
- Additional:
- Buena Vista Imaging
- Modern Videofilm
- Special Effects Co-ordinator
- David Blitstein
- Koi Puppeteers
- Lindsay MacGowan
- Bob Mano
- Lionfish Puppeteers
- Jeff Edwards
- Jason Matthews
- Editor
- Doron Shauly
- Set Decorator
- F. Beauchamp Herb
- Storyboard Artists
- Michael Cachuela
- Jason Brubaker
- Costume Designer
- Molly Maginnis
- Costume Supervisor
- James H. Lapidus
- Make-up Department Head
- Nena Smarz
- Make-up Artist
- Jackie Dobbie
- Hair Department Head
- Jeri Baker Sadler
- Key Hairstylists
- Candy L. Walken
- David J. Blair
- Titles
- Buena Vista Imaging
- Orchestrations
- Pete Anthony
- Jon Kull
- Midi Arrangements
- Tom Mgrdichian
- Music Supervisors
- Michael Dilbeck
- Associate:
- Lori Lahman
- Executive in Charge of Music, Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group
- Kathy Nelson
- Music Co-ordinator
- Wende Geikie
- Supervising Music Editor
- Steve Lotwis
- Music Editor
- Stuart Grusin
- Score Recordist/Mixer
- Gabe Veltri
- Music Consultant
- Michele Wernick
- Soundtrack
- "No Worries"by Hepcat; "Call Me" (1) by Blondie, (2) by Emilia; "Come On, Come On", "Can't Get Enough of You Baby" by Smashmouth; "We Trying to Stay Alive" by Wyclef Jean Featuring The Refugee Camp All-Stars, contains a sample of "Stayin' Alive" by Bee Gees; "Connected" by Stereo MCs, contains a sample of "Let Me (Be Your Lover)" by Jimmy 'Bo' Horne; "You Sexy Thing" by Hot Chocolate; "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye; "Spill the Wine" by Eric Burdon & War; "Charge Away" by Don Great; "Sukiyaki" by Steve Griffen; "Magnet and Steel" by Walter Egan; "Can't Smile without You" by Sean Beal; "Get Down Tonight" by K.C. & the Sunshine Band; "I'm Not in Love" by 10cc; "Lift Me Up" by Jeff Lynne; "Strangers in the Night"
- Choreography
- Adam M. Shankman
- Sound Mixers
- David Kelson
- Orlando Unit:
- Joe Foglia
- Re-recording Mixers
- Elliot Tyson
- Tom Dahl
- Supervising Sound Editors
- Elmo Weber
- Gary S. Gerlich
- Sound Editors
- Russell Farmaco
- Klaus Peintner
- Ai-Ling Lee
- Orada Jusatayanond
- David Luke Peifer
- Foley
- Walkers:
- Monique Reymond
- Eric Alexander
- Recordist:
- Klaus Peintner
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Gregg Smrz
- Animal Consultant
- Gary Gero
- Animal Co-ordinator
- Thomas L. Gunderson
- Animal Trainer
- Stacy M. Basil
- Fish Wrangler
- Mark S. Weitz
- Cast
- Rob Schneider
- Deuce Bigalow
- William Forsythe
- Detective Chuck Fowler
- Eddie Griffin
- T.J. Hicks
- Arija Bareikis
- Kate
- Oded Fehr
- Antoine Laconte
- Gail O'Grady
- Claire
- Richard Riehle
- Bob Bigalow
- Jacqueline Obradors
- Elaine Fowler
- Big Boy
- Jabba Lady
- Amy Poehler
- Ruth
- Dina Platias
- Bergita
- Torsten Voges
- Tina
- Deborah Lemen
- Carol
- Bree Turner
- Allison
- Andrew Shaifer
- Neil
- Allen Covert
- restaurant manager
- Elle Tanner Schneider
- Girl of America
- Barry Cutler
- Doctor Rosenblatt
- Jacqueline Titone
- Sally
- Karlee Holden
- Megan
- Chloé Hult
- Amber
- Natalie Garner
- Natalie
- Robb Skyler
- district attorney
- Jason Wall
- bailiff
- John Harrington Bland
- patient
- Caroline Ambrose
- mother
- Louise Rapport
- old woman in line
- Pilar Schneider
- old lady at restaurant
- Shain Holden
- waiter at pool
- Gabrielle Tuite
- beautiful Porsche woman
- Charlie Curtis
- half-dressed girl
- Thomas Bellin
- Flora Burke
- elderly couple in car
- [uncredited]
- Marlo Thomas
- Margaret
- Norm MacDonald
- bartender
- Ron Soble
- judge
- Certificate
- 15
- Distributor
- Buena Vista International (UK)
- 7,960 feet
- 88 minutes 27 seconds
- Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS
- In Colour
- Prints by
- Technicolor