The good news is that Rob Schneider left this country. Unfortunately for us, they filmed him over there. Actually, Schneider isn’t always as bad as the rap he’s gotten — in fact, his charming performance in “50 First Dates” was the only decent thing about that movie — but let’s face it, the guy knows his audience, and he usually plays to the lowest common denominator with everything he’s got in that diminutive frame of his. Never before has Schneider aimed so far below the belt as he does in this sequel to his 1999 hit about a hapless male prostitute with the gold-plated heart. The humor in “Deuce Bigalow European Gigolo” is so relentlessly blue, politically correct types in the audience will surely be seeing red long before the scene in which the poor Russian gal with a phallic nose penetrates a woman with a hole in her throat.
After a contrived set-up involving agitated dolphins and unsuspecting septuagenarians, Deuce is forced to go on the lam and tracks down his former pimp T.J. (Eddie Griffin), who has set up shop in Amsterdam’s red light district. T.J. gets fingered for a string of man-ho murders, so it’s up to Deuce to find the real killer and clear his buddy’s name. To that end he goes on a series of dates with some prime suspects: women with unfortunate afflictions that become the butt of a slew of dumb jokes. Deuce’s love interest is a real stunner named Eva (Dutch model Hanna Verboom) who falls for the little lug because he’s unfazed by her erratic behavior, the result of an obsessive-compulsive disorder (yep, more stupid jokes). Shot on location in the Netherlands, the film is a visual delight. And to be fair, there are some bona fide laugh-out-loud moments in “European Gigolo,” but ultimately the film suffers irreparable harm due to its arrant disregard for anything resembling good taste. Cameo alert: Adam Sandler and a puffy Norm MacDonald appear briefly and forgettably as members of The International Man-Whore Society.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 12, 2005. Read the original PDF.