The Master of Disguise (2002)

An Italian waiter fights off a criminal mastermind with his inherited powers of disguise.

Director:

Perry Andelin Blake

Writers:

Dana Carvey, Harris Goldberg

Stars:

Dana Carvey, Jennifer Esposito, Harold Gould

Bottom Rated Movies #61 | 1 win & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dana Carvey	...	Pistachio Disguisey
Jennifer Esposito	...	Jennifer Baker
Harold Gould	...	Grandfather Disguisey
James Brolin	...	Fabbrizio Disguisey
Brent Spiner	...	Devlin Bowman
Austin Wolff	...	Barney Baker
Edie McClurg	...	Mother Disguisey
Maria Canals-Barrera	...	Sophia (as Maria Canals)
Robert Machray	...	Texas Man
Michael Bailey Smith	...	Henchman
Rachel Lederman	...	Texas Wife
Vincent Riverside	...	Henchman
Mark Devine	...	Trent
Kenan Thompson	...	Kenan
Jay Johnston	...	Rex

Storyline

A sweet-natured Italian waiter named Pistachio Disguisey at his father Fabbrizio's restaurant, who happens to be a member of a family with supernatural skills of disguise. But moments later the patriarch of the Disguisey family is kidnapped Fabbrizio's former arch-enemy, Devlin Bowman, a criminal mastermind in an attempt to steal the world's most precious treasures from around the world. And it's up to Pistachio to track down Bowman and save his family before Bowman kills them!

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Plot Keywords:

slapstick comedy | inheritance | robbery | disguise | mask | 

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Taglines:

He can get into any disguise... getting out is another story.

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild language and some crude humor

Did You Know?

Trivia

Featured on episode #231 on the podcast "How Did This Get Made?"

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Goofs

When the grandfather asks where the nest is and Pistachio says the attic, he is sitting down really close to the wall. In the next shot, when he stands up, he isn't even close to any walls.

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Quotes

Pistachio Disguisey: [as President Bush] The folks around here call me "Dub-ya". Hoo ya!

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Crazy Credits

After the credits, we see Pistachio and the Slapping-Dummy Man having a drink as they make remarks to the emptying theater.

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Alternate Versions

In the UK, to avoid a '12A' rating, a series of headbutts were removed. This cuts seven seconds.

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Connections

Spoofs The X-Files (1993)

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Soundtracks

Conga
Written by Enrique Elías García (as Enrique Garcia)
Performed by The Miami Sound Machine
Courtesy of Epic Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

a comedy totally devoid of laughs

`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.

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 August 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Master of Disguise

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$16,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,554,650, 4 August 2002

Gross USA:

$40,388,794

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$43,411,001

Company Credits

Production Co:

Revolution Studios, Happy Madison Productions, Out of the Blue... Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1