Schneider hits new lows with rude, crude and unfunny 'Deuce' sequel

Friday, August 12, 2005

By SEAN AXMAKER
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER

"That is the grossest thing I've ever seen," exclaims a character in "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo." That's exactly the aesthetic that former "Saturday Night Live" also-ran Rob Schneider aims for in the needless sequel to his minor 1999 hit.

MOVIE REVIEW

DEUCE BIGALOW: EUROPEAN GIGOLO

DIRECTOR: Mike Bigelow

CAST: Rob Schneider, Eddie Griffin, Jeroen Krabbé, Hanna Verboom

RUNNING TIME: 77 minutes

RATING: R for pervasive strong crude and sexual humor, language, nudity and drug content

GRADE: F

LINKS/TRAILERS
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His script, which feels like it was cobbled together from the late-night bull sessions of stoned adolescents, sends well-meaning moron Deuce (Schneider) and his prosthetic leg (all that's left of his eaten-by-sharks wife) to Amsterdam. When his pimping pal T.J. (a profanity-spewing Eddie Griffin) is pegged as a serial killer, dumpy doofus Deuce goes back into business as the most unlikely male prostitute on the planet to clear his pal.

In the original film, the woefully underqualified male escort found a way to improve the self-esteem of a parade of socially awkward and physically self-conscious clients through simple empathy and creative dating. This time around, it becomes simply a series of cheap sight gags.

Never one to dabble in sophistication, Schneider stumbles to new levels of aggressive tastelessness here. Mike Bigelow (no relation, we hope) gets credit for directing, but the film offers precious little evidence of any direction. Schneider's dazed, wide-eyed performance feels more amateur community theater than late-night comedy, and the clumsy shooting and editing tramples any sense of comic timing inherent in the raw material.

Not that there are any actual jokes to be had. The film simply jumps to the punch lines, a non-stop barrage of crude dialogue and vulgar sight gags that passes as humor among adolescent boys. Who exactly is the audience for this R-rated film? The terminally immature?