Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999)

(In theaters, December 1999) This doesn’t rise much higher than most “stupid comedies” seen lately, but does the job if you’re in the mood for this type of film. Rather sweet-natured despite the constant jabs at almost every “different” group you can think of. Includes the first parodies of The Matrix; two hilarious take-offs on action scenes accompanied by the Propellerheads’ “Spybreak!”. It’s unfortunately easy to see where this comedy could have been improved at the script stage to produce something with a longer video-store shelf-life: Rob Schneider isn’t the best actor for the job (the role would have been ideally suited for the cynical wit of David Spade) and the script is full of missed opportunities and insufficiently defined situations. For instance, Deuce is never clearly established as a genius or and idiot; wouldn’t the movie have been much more fun with a sarcastic, nerdish Deuce Bigalow thrown into the “he-whore” business?