Deuce Bigalow Male Gigolo

Release date: December 10th, 1999

Review date: March 31st, 2016

Reviewer: Chandler

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Rob Schneider is… a male gigolo.

(Not entirely)

Deuce Bigalow is a down-on-his-luck fish tank cleaner who has just recently lost his steady job. He continuously flirts with the cute girl working at the pet store he frequents, but has no dating prospects. When he answers an ad to clean the fish pond of the extremely wealthy Anton, Deuce finds himself in the presence of a real male gigolo. Anton is wealthy, masculine, and traditionally masculine with his toned body, facial hair, and exotic accent. Deuce is extremely impressed with the many sexy women who are paying Anton for sexual pleasure.

Understanding of male gigolos is varied even within academic literature. A gigolo does not have the same meaning as a 'prostitute' or a 'pimp'. One simplified definition of a gigolo is “a man who courts a woman for some form of financial renumeration” (Jackson & Connell, 1981, p 131). There is some misunderstanding as to whether or not “male gigolos” are equivalent to the colloquially termed “male prostitute”. For Deuce Bigalow, his foray into gigoloism is rather inconsistent: he is referred to as a man-whore but he doesn’t actually engage in any sexual activity.

Having been asked to watch Anton’s house and take care of his fish while he is away in Switzerland for three weeks, Deuce accidentally destroys Anton’s fish tank and several expensive furnishings in the home. Needing upwards of $6000 to replace everything he destroyed, Deuce turns to gigoloism as a way to make fast cash.

Whereas all of the women seen with Anton are wealthy, thin, conventionally attractive white women, Deuce’s clientele is vastly different. The women who seek Deuce’s services include: an older woman with a rabid dog and a fetish for German lederhosen; an overweight African-American woman who hides sandwiches between her breasts; a narcoleptic woman; a woman with Tourette’s Syndrome; and a woman who is outrageously tall. Even Kate, the woman Deuce eventually falls for, is unconventional: she has a wooden leg.

In trivializing these women who purchase the services of escorts for sexual pleasure, the movie makes a joke out of women’s sexuality when it had every opportunity to embrace it. The one conventionally attractive woman who does seek Deuce’s services—and expresses explicit interest in sexual relations—is denied these services because Deuce is in love with Kate. The other women—the narcoleptic and the woman with Tourette’s Syndrome—are given emotional support as though it is the only thing they could need. By denying these women even an inclination that they desire sexual relations, the movie purports this notion that only conventionally attractive women desire sex.

One thing worth mentioning is that two of the unconventional women do express sexual desires: the overweight woman, Fluisa; and the tall woman, Tina. Fluisa embodies the stereotype of the over-sexualized black woman. She objectifies her own body, makes overtly sexual comments towards Deuce, and avidly tries to get him to pleasure her sexually. Tina on the other hand embodies the masculine woman. She takes on dominant masculine traits such as tearing Deuce’s clothes off and sexually assaulting Anton later on in the movie as though her stature is what likens her to a man (Tina in real life is played by a male actor, Torsten Voges who is 6’9). Both women are talked out of their sexual desires by Deuce who offers them emotional support instead.

The inclusion of such unconventional women in this movie allows for Deuce to be the savior. Through his warm and kind heart, he fixes these broken women—and he didn’t even have to sleep with them.

For a movie from 1999, Deuce Bigalow is rather progressive in its overt discussion of female sexuality and male sex work. Being a comedic film, it lacks any real attention to reality. The truth is research has shown that the majority of male sex workers have male clients (Morse et al., 1992). Not much is known about women who purchase the sexual services of men; however, it is safe to assume that the depictions in Deuce Bigalow are not representative.

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Safety

With his first client, Deuce does pull out a roll of condoms and put one on [though they don't end up having sex]
Tina, the tall woman, rips Deuce's clothes off his body even though he is clearly not consenting; he concedes to rub her feet to make up for the fact that he will not have sex with her

Word Choice

Deuce is referred to as a gigolo, a man whore, and a prostitute
A woman that Deuce brings home from the bar turns out to be a sex worker herself and Deuce refers to her as a hooker

Inclusiveness

Sex workers make up majority of the main cast: Deuce, TJ, Anton, and Claire [the sex worker from the bar]

Facts

The movie is inconsistent as to whether gigolos are paid for sex or just paid for their company
The movie implies that women are the only clients of male sex workers

Type

Claire, the sex worker from the bar,tries to rob Deuce of 500$ simply for taking her back to his place; this plays up the stereotype that female sex workers are devious, manipulative and spiteful.
Anton is the prototypical handsome exotic male escort

Overall SWIFT Rating:

This movie earns 2/5 red umbrellas because, at the time, it provided a mainstream platform for discussion about women's sexuality as well as male sex work (which is largely undiscussed/misunderstood)
Issues with language, representation, and stereotype prevent the movie from earning a higher rating