El maestro del disfraz

Sheer genius cannot even begin to properly address this cinematic achievement, to call it any less is an insult. Dana Carvey, on the surface, plays a bumbling Italian waiter who inherits the power of disguise; however, if you dig a bit deeper & peel away the layers, you'll find a motion picture which is a scathing, yet biting social political statement on society as a whole. One cannot begin to hopefully comprehend or decipher all the psychological & stereotypical boundaries this film breaks. It is a surprise to find this film in mainstream theaters as a film on this level & caliber would normally only be found in the finest arthouse theaters. If you plan on seeing Master of Disguise, I suggest keeping your afternoon free, as after viewing, no after witnessing it, you'll need the rest of the afternoon to invest in deciphering the dense narrative. Admittingly some of the jokes were over my head, but all truly great comedies take a bit of effort for comprehension. Only for serious film viewers & students of the artform as a whole.

Saturday. I'm feeling awful. We go to a movie. Okay, my parents go off and see "Austin Powers 3" (BIIIIG mistake) and my little sister and I go and see Mike Myer's scrawny little blond buddy, Dana Carvey. So far so good. Right. So the movie starts and I'm wondering if we wondered into Harry Potter, with the candles and everything, but it wasn't, because I don't think Brent Spiner was in Harry Potter. But it starts- and it goes- for quite a bit, and I wonder if maybe I'd better go to sleep. Even when Carvey shows up, his Italian accent is SO IRRITATING I still wonder about dozing off, if that's even possible anymore. Not a great beginning by any means.

But wait...sun shining through the clouds a little? Well, my little sister's laughing anyway. So okay, Carvey's charming a snake. Well, he charms me if he's trying hard enough, so the snake's no big deal. So what? Okay...he's dressed as a turtle. Oh my gosh! He's a big turtle with a bald head and a pointy lip and he's bugging everybody and THE AUDIENCE IS GOING WILD!!! I'm sorry, but I have to stand in Carvey's defense. The main character is a bit of a one-joke, and the joke isn't all that good (keep away from 'funny names'). But the people he slides in as are funny! The turtle, the old lady, the, the, the, and my personal favorite, the British Fellow. I love the British, even if they do look like Dana Carvey and actually aren't British. The British Fellow was my favorite. And the fact is, after the movie got going, and except a few parts when Carvey was being Pistachio (one-jokio) the movie was very funny and good for an entertaining evening, especially if you're with somebody of a youthful mentality who laughs at every fart that comes off the screen (okay, so it was funny once, but they shouldn't have put it in every time). It was ridiculous and fairly badly-written and it wasn't the dialogue that was funny, but the characters! SNL's wild cat is on the movie screen again. Plus I was picturing Carvey teasing Mike Myers about it ("Wooh! Whupped YOUR butt, didn't I?") And frankly, the only un-enjoyable thing that evening was the idiot teenaged boys we were sitting next to. Every time there was one of the less tush-deficient ladies on screen, they were...well, making noises. I was driven to adopting my best Graham Chapman voice and saying "Shut up, you loopy brothel inmate!!!" Well, no, not really, I made that up. Anyway, the movie really brightened my day, and I laughed all the way home, causing great concern to my parents, who had only seen Austen Powers and therefore couldn't figure out what there was left to live for in the world.

`The Master of Disguise' raises – and indeed answers – the question of whether or not it is possible for a movie that bills itself as a `comedy' to run from beginning to end without offering a single funny moment. (The answer, by the way, is, yes, it can be done). Thus, while his `Wayne's World' partner, Mike Myers, is out there making both a fortune and an indelible impression on pop culture with his `Austin Powers' franchise, poor Dana Carvey is reduced to appearing in disastrous vehicles like this one. Now don't get me wrong. I love Carvey's work on `Saturday Night Live,' especially his impersonations of many of the major political figures of our time. However, Carvey's manic, over-the-top style is, apparently, a whole lot easier to take in small doses. Watching him mug, cavort and pratfall his way through a laughless script for the better part of an hour and a half ultimately becomes as wearying as it is embarrassing to watch.

Stealing much of its concept from `The Mask,' `The Master of Disguise' involves Carvey in some nonsense about a family of crime fighters who are able to magically don all sorts of disguises at a moment's notice. This allows the filmmakers to enlist the aid of a number of real life celebrities who end up making cameo appearances, in the misguided belief, most likely, that this was going to be a fun, entertaining movie comedy. Boy, were they misled. Actually, I have rarely seen a film in which the jokes, `bits' and setups fall as consistently flat as they do here. To get a general notion of the level of humor in this film, please note that the running gag involves one character's tendency towards uncontrollable flatulence. It isn't funny the first time it happens and, believe me, it is even less funny the fourth, fifth (or is it sixth?) time around.

In addition to the celebrity walk-ons (Bo Derek, Jesse Ventura, Paula Abdul, among others), Harold Gould, James Brolin, Jennifer Espinoto, Brent Spiner and Edie McClurg are all good sports who deserve better material than what they have been handed here. So is Carvey when you come right down to it. But then Carvey wrote the screenplay, so he HAS to be a good sport about it. After all, he handed HIMSELF this material. I hope the other actors trapped in this mess at least got paid well for their endeavors.

The only good news is that, in the closing credits, we get to see many of the scenes, lines and characters that were, apparently, filmed, then dropped from the final product. One can only imagine how much worse the film would have been had they all been allowed to stay in.

I rarely comment on movies, but when I see one getting such a bad rap.... I rented this for my 2 kids ages 8 and 12, and watched it with them and my wife. We all enjoyed it, and my kids have watched it several times since. It is obvious from the get go that this is a "goofy" movie, and it succeeds greatly as such. You can see the gags coming, but that only adds to the anticipation, as the goofiness is delivered in spades. We all loved Turtleman, and many of the other nutty characters invented by Dana. It is so difficult to find a family movie that we all can enjoy, that is harmless fun, with no scariness, no mom getting killed (a la Disney), no kidnapping, etc, etc. Only wish there was a sequel!

I loved this movie!! It was so cute!! I had wanted to see it ever since I first saw the trailer for it. I am a big fan of Dana Carvey and I thought he was great in this movie. I can understand why most of you people didn't like it because he made this especially for his children who are under 13. I loved his little Italian accent and I thought he looked so cute. I went with my dad (who's in his 40's) and my 10 year-old sister and they both laughed! My sister was laughing out loud and there were some parts that I laughed so hard tears came to my eyes. I think I laughed the hardest at the Turtle Guy part. I really liked the guy from India who was charming the snake. I loved the voice he used. Yeah, this movie ain't nothing like the work he did on Saturday Night Live but he does use his talent here and I just enjoyed it. I laughed and that's what Dana wanted the people to do when they saw this movie. It was so great. Oh, and I will own this movie when it comes out on video!!!