Big Stan
If repetitive mentions of homosexual rape make you uncomfortable, it's probably best that you avoid Big Stan altogether
By Jonathon Valenzuela
To approach Rob Schneider's latest movie with certain amount of trepidation is perfectly natural, especially since it marks his debut as a director. Whether or not you enjoy it really depends on your liking for Schneider and your reaction to the word 'rape'. (It comes up a lot.)
Schneider is Stan Minton, a slick-talking con artist brought to justice by the Feds. Facing a three-to-five stretch, his lawyer wrangles him a six-month stay of incarceration to get his affairs in order. Stan, convinced he'll be raped by his fellow prisoners, spends this time trying to cultivate a strong, dangerous image. He enlists the services of The Master (David Carradine, naturally), who turns him from a quivering rich boy into a hardened destruction machine. Upon entering prison, he whips the other convicts into line while becoming embroiled in a real-estate scam with the crooked warden.
If repetitive mentions of homosexual rape make you uncomfortable, it's probably best that you avoid Big Stan altogether. The movie is anally fixated, and this gets annoying after the third mention. The film is peppered with Schneider's typical off-colour humour (farts and the like), the characters are one-dimensional and the plot is so predictable that the dimmest audience member will start to feel like Nostradamus.
All this being said, it is refreshing to see Schneider in a role that doesn't rely on a ridiculous accent or his diminutive frame. He is actually fairly convincing as a tough guy, poker-faced and menacing when he needs to be, and his pre-film training has paid off. Whether you love him or hate him, your opinion of Rob Schneider will remain unchanged by the end.
