Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo review

Life is full of mysteries: the Loch Ness Monster, the Marie Celeste, Michael Jackson being found not guilty to name but three. Another is, why Rob Schneider is considered funny. Being short, having frizzy hair and pulling a few silly faces does not a comedian make. But that's just one opinion. It's obvious there are some out there who think differently which is why, six years after Schneider first appeared as Deuce Bigalow, the world's most unlikely gigolo has returned.

Until recently, an 'R' rating in America was the death knell for any comedy hoping to do big business, but with the success of Wedding Crashers, it's clear there's an audience who like a bit of sauce with their laughs. But while Crashers earned its rating through titillation, Deuce Biglaow: European Gigolo reeks of bad taste, foul language and gross humour, in essence the very ingredients adored by the juvenile audience that's excluded. But that's just typical for a film that is all about being dumb.

For those who find jokes about human abnormalities hilarious, including mocking Chernobyl and cancer victims, then European Gigolo is a must see. Such gags certainly make the endless crude cracks seem almost sophisticated by comparison. They're not of course. The stream of euphemistic phrases for sex, like Canadian Bacon, Portuguese Breakfast and Irish Facial aren't funny either. Nor are the feeble gay jokes. It's as though European Gigolo is a throwback to a time before anyone ever heard the phrase 'politically correct.' Which itself is not necessarily a bad thing, though Gigolo is more stupid than offensive.

The locations may have changed, but little else has from the original. Eddie Griffin, hired presumably because he's one of the few actors around that insures Schneider isn't the unfunniest person on screen, returns as the pimp T.J. Hicks. Needing to escape his homeland in a hurry, Deuce takes up T.J.'s offer to join him in Amsterdam where prostitution is legal and business is good. When the city's top gigolos start getting bumped off, and T.J. inadvertently becomes a suspect, Deuce goes in search of the real murderer.

There are, of course, few funnier premises for comedy than a serial killer on the loose. Throw in plenty of xenophobic humour and European Gigolo has all the ingredients of a hit. The film's tagline is "Same ho, new low." They're not kidding.

Kevin Murphy