Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (R) No Rating

Here's the test to find out whether "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" is for

you. Did you laugh when Adam Sandler and the tyke in "Big Daddy" tripped

Rollerbladers into the pond? Was the bathroom incident in "There's

Something About Mary" a seminal moment in film history? Did "The

Waterboy" make it into your top 10 movies of the year? If the answer to

two out of three was affirmative, then "Deuce" could be right up your

alley.

If not, or if you're more responsive to the trailer for "The Cider House

Rules," then you should probably skip this lowbrow affair. It stars

Sandler's buddy and frequent co-star Rob Schneider as a fish tank

cleaner turned "man whore," and represents the first film from Sandler's

own Happy Madison Productions, a play on his two other frat-house hits,

"Happy Gilmore" and "Billy Madison."

By now, anyone who's seen a Sandler or Chris Farley film knows the

drill: Minimal plot, full of standard albeit winking cliches, lots of

cheap, bathroom humor and at least one or two genuinely hilarious sight

gags. This time, Schneider moves up to the starting line-up as a dopey

dude whose best chance of seeing some action is a trip to the local

goldfish store to watch the checkout girl get her chest wet dipping for

fish.

That's until a lucky run-in with rico suave hustler Antoine ("The

Mummy's" Oded Fehr), who leaves the witless hero in charge of his fish

and estate for three weeks. During the first few days, the hapless

wonder ends up destroying the place while attempting to exercise in his

underwear. The visual of Schneider splayed mid-air between ceiling and

fish tank, unsuccessfully balancing between the two, is one of the

funnier gags in the trailer and the movie.

Since it costs more to fix the temperamental gigolo's aquarium than his

fish-cleaning duties will provide, Deuce comes up with the brilliant

idea to try male hustling on the side. He's aided in his quest by a

wise-cracking "man pimp" (Eddie Griffin), whose most distinguished

characteristic is a penchant for dropping various food in hot tubs,

scooping it up and eating it.

The humor rolls downhill from there. Deuce's clientele includes a

bed-ridden behemoth, a 10-foot tall giant, a gal unable to control her

obscenities and a woman suffering narcolepsy. At one point, the latter

falls asleep in mid-swing at a bowling alley, before later napping at

the top of a staircase.

By the time Deuce is set up with the seemingly normal, bright and

beautiful Kate (likable Arija Bareikis), it's easy to predict where the

story is headed. Along the way to its happy conclusion at the 90-minute

mark, there's more fun to be had at the expense of an investigator

(William Forsythe) worried about the fallacies of his sexual instrument

and a toilet attendant who happens to be Deuce's dad.

The script, co-written by Schneider and Harris Goldberg, bears the

Sandler imprint all the way" Crass jokes and easy plot developments are

the guiding principle, with director Mike Mitchell keeping things moving

at a decent clip. It's all lewd and crude machismo, but unlike other

"Saturday Night Live" alum escapades such as the recent "Superstar," it

holds up well enough beyond sketch form.

No one will mistake "Deuce Bigalow" for "The English Patient." In terms

of lowbrow comedies, it's not up to snuff with "Mary," the Farrelly

brothers' "Dumb and Dumber" or Jim Carrey's "Ace Ventura: Pet

Detective." But for fans of those down and dirty escapades, especially

those chomping at the bit for the next Adam Sandler flick, this one

should do the trick, and is notable for being the first to spoof on one

of the year's biggest sci-fi hits.

* MPAA rating: R

"Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo"

Rob Schneider: Deuce Bigalow

Arija Bareikis: Kate

William Forsythe: Detective Chuck Fowler

Eddie Griffin: T.J. Hicks

Oded Fehr: Antoine Laconte

A Buena Vista presentation. Director Mike Mitchell. Screenplay Rob

Schneider and Harris Goldberg. Producers Sid Ganis and Barry Bernardi.

Director of photography Peter Lyons Collister. Editors George Bowers and

Lawrence Jordan. Music Teddy Castellucci. Production designer Alan Au.

Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.