Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo (2005)

Irreverent. Rude. Sarcastic.

These may be the best terms to describe this sequel to the run-away hit Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigolo (1999). While the film mostly stayed in the formulaic plot of sexual mis-adventures with all sorts of women of different physical and psychological dysfunctions, the movie has inserted some pointed criticism against Western way of living.

The movie was a description, albeit a skewed one at that, of the two-pronged repercussion of civilization: progress and decadence. Amsterdam was pictured, for example, as a perfectly livable and hospitable city where almost anything banned in other cities is legal. Prostitution and sale of marijuana and hashhish are a common everyday fare. The city as T.J. (Eddie Griffin) said is like "Disneyland for college students" where the rich can waste away money and themselves.

Very noticeable in the movie was how the director's (or the writer's or producer's?) take on the U.S. imperialism and war-based economic policy. In one scene where Deuce (Rob Schneider) sported a loud American flag shirt, an anti- American shouted , "Fuck you American, you imperialistic dog!" but a plump European woman waved a tiny American flag while saying, "I love America, I love President Bush. Thank you for bringing democracy to Iraq. " The woman was hit in the head by a wooden shoe.

In another scene, Deuce was with the very beautiful but extremely obsessive compulsive woman, Eva (Hanna Verboom). A pathetically rude French guy kept pestering and abusing the two. Deuce told him, "In America we don't smoke in the Aquarium." The French retorted, "Oh yeah! Well, in Europe we don't unilaterally attack a country for its oil!" While the statement was clearly pointed to the Bush administration, the same could be said for European countries in its colonial days heydays.

That's the reason why when T.J. told Deuce that "black people all over the world will be forever grateful to the Dutch" for inventing chicken and waffles, the latter reminded him, "Did you know that the Dutch started the slave trade?" The movie also made a scathing remark on how Armsterdam has become "the new Sodom and Gomorrah." I don't know how the Dutch are taking the insult. Or if they care.

But perhaps the clearest merit of the film, although it was delivered as a tacked on preachy speech, was its sympathy for women. In the battle scene between Deuce and the jilted gigolo wannabe Gaspar Voorbosch (Jeroen Krabbe), which was projected on a giant screen outside the Man-Whore Union building, Deuce empathically lectured Gaspar that, contrary to what many men believed, women wanted more than sex. They want to be cared for, asked how their day was, told how beautiful they were inside despite their many physical limitations.

And Deuce was not simply sermonizing. He practiced what he preached. He brought the artificial leg of his wife to Europe as a sign of his loyalty to her. He was never mean to the women he dated. He even went to great lengths of bending down and accomodating Eva's 130 obsessive compulsive behaviors. In the end, his love for her, was able to "cure" some of her OC-ness.

That's what true love means, isn't it: curing each other's pain, healing each other's wound.

And did I tell you that the movie was funny too?