I Give Up -- Yeah, It's Brilliant
This is the type of movie that movie buffs (me included) like to belittle because it is silly and fun and has fart jokes in it instead of references to Ingmar Bergman. They (me included) forget though that telling a story, entertaining the viewer, drawing you in, is a humongous task for any movie, serious or funny.
When I watched Deuce Bigalow for the umpteenth time last night, I was just amazed how original, well thought out and made it is. It is consistently funny, I was either giggling or gut-laughing all the way through, but you just have to marvel at all the details. TJ and Antoine, for example, are both perfect in their roles. It's a big fat shame that not all the actors from this movie rose to stardom afterward. DBMG is also about the only movie that packs a believable romance and happy end -- usually, that segment is merely stapled on to compensate the girlfriend for having to endure a gross-out comedy on her date and to put her in the right mood for post-theatrical hanky panky. And you can watch this movie either end to end, or just tune in for a ten minute clip and still be entertained and amused.
The only aspect that I'd criticise about DBMG is that a few scenes seemed to be somewhat first-take-ish, not refined enough (and refinement is the essence of good comedy). Like when Bergita (the blind chick) and TJ (the male madam -- no, wait ...) get it off in the closet and Bergita says: "I can see again" (yeah ...) "Hey, you're black" (funny) "I knew" (yawn -- black man, big penis, must have been a killer joke back in the 1950ies). That's just a scene that could have been done better. But hey, I'm nitpicking here. Deuce Bigalow is an underrated comedy classic. And it's got an impressive soundtrack, too.
When I watched Deuce Bigalow for the umpteenth time last night, I was just amazed how original, well thought out and made it is. It is consistently funny, I was either giggling or gut-laughing all the way through, but you just have to marvel at all the details. TJ and Antoine, for example, are both perfect in their roles. It's a big fat shame that not all the actors from this movie rose to stardom afterward. DBMG is also about the only movie that packs a believable romance and happy end -- usually, that segment is merely stapled on to compensate the girlfriend for having to endure a gross-out comedy on her date and to put her in the right mood for post-theatrical hanky panky. And you can watch this movie either end to end, or just tune in for a ten minute clip and still be entertained and amused.
The only aspect that I'd criticise about DBMG is that a few scenes seemed to be somewhat first-take-ish, not refined enough (and refinement is the essence of good comedy). Like when Bergita (the blind chick) and TJ (the male madam -- no, wait ...) get it off in the closet and Bergita says: "I can see again" (yeah ...) "Hey, you're black" (funny) "I knew" (yawn -- black man, big penis, must have been a killer joke back in the 1950ies). That's just a scene that could have been done better. But hey, I'm nitpicking here. Deuce Bigalow is an underrated comedy classic. And it's got an impressive soundtrack, too.
- Karl Self
- 24 जुल॰ 2008