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 #53 | 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 | master of disguise | kidnapping | 

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Taglines:

1,000 Faces... And Not A Single Clue.

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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

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 August 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Meister der Verwandlung

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$16,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,554,650, 4 August 2002, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$40,363,530, 24 November 2002

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the film, Pistachio does an imitation of Shrek for the little boy. Shrek is voiced by Mike Myers, whom Dana Carvey is well-known for starring alongside in Wayne's World (1992) and Wayne's World 2 (1993).

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Goofs

When Barney trips over the menu and falls to the floor, his skateboard starts to roll away on it's wheels. In the very next shot the skateboard is now flipped over on its other side, now lying on the board.

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Quotes

Pistachio Disguisey: But, Papa, don't preach. I'm in trouble deep, and I'm keeping my baby.

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Crazy Credits

During the final credits, there are scenes from a wedding between Pistachio Disguisey and Jennifer, as well as Dana Carvey hamming it up in several disguises, some 'bloopers', and Dana acting out scenes from other movies/shows.

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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 Jaws (1975)

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Soundtracks

This Could Be Love
Written by Solange, Troy Johnson, and Sean P. Young
Performed by Solange (as Solange)
Courtesy of Music World Music/Columbia 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.