The Master of Disguise
| The Master of Disguise | |
|---|---|
 Promotional film poster | |
| Directed by | Perry Andelin Blake |
| Written by | Dana Carvey Harris Goldberg |
| Produced by | Barry Bernardi Sid Ganis Todd Garner Adam Sandler Alex Siskin |
| Starring | Dana Carvey Jennifer Esposito Harold Gould James Brolin Brent Spiner |
| Narrated by | Harold Gould |
| Cinematography | Peter Lyons Collister |
| Edited by | Peck Prior Sandy Solowitz |
| Music by | Marc Ellis |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 72 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $16 million[1] |
| Box office | $43,411,001 |
The Master of Disguise is a 2002 comedy film starring Dana Carvey, Jennifer Esposito, Harold Gould, James Brolin, and Brent Spiner. Adam Sandler produced The Master of Disguise through his Happy Madison production company. Though successful at the box office, the film was universally panned by critics, scoring a rating of just 1% on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.
Plot
In Palermo, Italy in 1979, Fabbrizio Disguisey, the latest in a long line of Italian secret agents known as "Masters of Disguise", barely avoids getting caught while breaking up a smuggling ring run by the evil Devlin Bowman while disguised as Bo Derek. Bowman goes to jail and Fabbrizio decides it best to keep his family's identity a secret from his infant son, Pistachio.
Twenty-three years later, Fabbrizio runs an Italian restaurant in America with his unnamed wife and Pistachio working as, respectively, the cook and a waiter. Thanks to his yet-untold family heritage, Pistachio has a tendency to mock people at random, doing perfect but annoying and badly timed impersonations. He's also looking for a wife that has a big butt like her mother, but his nerdy demeanor makes him unlikeable to women, as well as a target for bullies, like fellow waiter Rex.
One night, Devlin Bowman, fresh out of jail, kidnaps Fabbrizio and "Mama", forcing the former to use his Disguisey powers to steal legendary artifacts like the U.S. Constitution. Meanwhile, Pistachio is visited by his unnamed grandfather, who reveals Pistachio's heritage and begins training him in the ways of becoming a Master of Disguise.
Eventually, Pistachio gets the basics of the Disguisey way down and his grandfather gets him an assistant, the gorgeous Jennifer Baker, who is a little confused about what the job entails. The two search the area where Fabbrizio was kidnapped and find one of Bowman's cigars, which is emblazoned with the symbol of the "Turtle Club". Pistachio disguises himself as a man who dresses and acts like a turtle. They manage to learn Bowman's name and scheme, as well as that he'll be at an antiques fair the next day.
Pistachio and Jennifer go to the fair, the former disguised as an elderly woman named Gammy Num-Nums. They meet Bowman, who invites Jennifer to a party at his house. Pistachio goes to the party disguised as Tony Montana and distracts Bowman while Jennifer looks for clues. Though she gets it, Pistachio causes so much trouble that he's forced to abandon Jennifer when Bowman sends his men after him. Pistachio loses the henchmen by disguising himself as shark-hunter Quint. He uses other disguises, like Bavarian tax agent Constable Mueller and British secret agent Terry Suave, to get Jennifer to safety.
That night, Pistachio and Jennifer look through the clues at a local restaurant, and they deduce that Bowman has forced Fabbrizio to go back to his disguising ways to steal the treasures for Bowman. While there, they find Jennifer's boyfriend out on a date with Pistachio's old flame, Sophia. Pistachio then ends up slapping him into submission, then leaving with the love-struck Jennifer.
Bowman's men kidnap Jennifer as soon as they arrive back at her home. Her son, Barney, whom Pistachio has befriended, finds him talking with his grandfather via hologram and a plan is formed. Pistachio, disguised as a cherry pie, breaks into Bowman's house and stops the auction. But even after defeating Bowman's ninja army, Bowman has one final trick up his sleeve. He has attached a mask of his own face to Fabbrizio's head, making him appear to be Bowman. While the real Bowman escapes, Pistachio is forced to fight his father.
In the end, Pistachio helps his father snap out of it, they free "Mama", return the artifacts, Pistachio marries Jennifer, and becomes an official Master of Disguise. However, there is one final thing to deal with — Bowman still has the Constitution. Luckily, the Disguiseys find him in Costa Rica. Disguised as George W. Bush, Pistachio, along with Fabbrizio and his grandfather, defeat Bowman once and for all and retrieve the Constitution.
Over the end credits, we see numerous out-takes, deleted scenes, musical numbers and the characters partying along to the soundtrack in between credits.
After the end credits finally end, while Pistachio is cleaning up his restaurant, he discovers that a dwarfed man was in the slapping dummy the whole time. Then the dwarfed man chases him. The two have a conversation and say good-bye. Then so does the dog.
Cast
- Dana Carvey as Pistachio Disguisey
- Dane Morris as young Pistachio Disguisey
- Dylan and Cole Sprouse as young Pistachio Disguisey
- Jennifer Esposito as Jennifer Baker
- Harold Gould as Grandfather
- James Brolin as Fabbrizio Disguisey
- Brent Spiner as Devlin Bowman
- Austin Wolff as Barney Baker
- Curtis Armstrong as Cigar maker
- Kenan Thompson as Kenan
- Maria Canals as Sophia
- Bruce Wagner as Rex
- Johnny Nguyen as Ninja
- Steven Ho as Ninja
- Naya Rivera (uncredited, deleted scene) as Captain America kid
- Celebrities as themselves
- Michael Johnson
- Jessica Simpson
- Bo Derek
- Nina Veaco
- Paula Abdul (uncredited)
- Jesse Ventura (uncredited)
Reception
Despite being a success at the box office, the film received a nearly universally negative response. Many critics considered the plot sophomoric, compounding the fact that there were several "disguises" that would clearly not be recognized by youngsters (Tony Montana from Scarface, for example).
In March 2007, review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes ranked the film as the 18th worst-reviewed of the 00's decade, with a 1% rating, and its consensus reading: "An ill-conceived attempt to utilize Dana Carvey's talent for mimicry, The Master of Disguise is an irritating, witless farce weighted down by sophomoric gags."[2] On Metacritic the film scored 12 out of 100, indicating "Overwhelming Dislike".[3] Comedian and former Mystery Science Theater 3000 host Michael J. Nelson named the film the third-worst comedy ever made.[4] Toni Ruberto of Buffalo News stated: "It's a kid-friendly family film with lots of good old-fashioned laughs."
Awards and honors
Bo Derek's cameo in the film earned her a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress, but lost against Madonna of Die Another Day.
References
- ^ "The Master of Disguise". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
- ^ Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-master-of-disguise
- ^ Nelson, Michael J. (March 6, 2007). "Inoperable Humor: The 5 Worst Comedies of All Time". Cracked. Retrieved April 17, 2010.