By Robert Scucci
| Published
Dana Carvey is one of those comedians who has embodied a tragic level of misdirected talent throughout his career. Known for his iconic (and at the time, ongoing) impression of George H.W. Bush during his tenure on SNL, Carvey has proven himself as a master of mimicry, which is why a movie like 2002’s The Master of Disguise goes such great lengths to let its audience know just how talented he is when it comes to changing his appearance and throwing his voice for the sake of comedy.
Though The Master of Disguise boasts a promising premise on paper, Carvey, who cut his teeth with stand-up and sketch comedy, completely missed the mark with this feature-length outing. Playing out more like a series of bits to showcase his talent, The Master of Disguise was not well-received by critics, and currently sits in the trenches over at Rotten Tomatoes with a one percent critical score that it will probably never recover from.
The Master Of Disguise Rundown
The Master of Disguise, as its title suggests, centers on Dany Carvey’s Pistachio Disguisey, the son of Fabbrizio Disguisey (James Brolin). Fabbrizio, whose claim to fame is breaking up a smuggling ring ran by Devlin Bowman (Brent Spiner), realizes that he doesn’t want his son to live the same secret agent-adjacent lifestyle as himself because of its many dangers, and resolves to spend the rest of his days operating an Italian restaurant so his son could work honestly under his supervision.
When Devlin Bowman finishes his prison sentence, he kidnaps Fabbrizio so he could exploit his talents in the form of forcing him to wear disguises that allow him to steal valuable ancient artifacts and restore his black market operation to its former glory.
Fabbrizio, not yet aware of his own talents in The Master of Disguise, is informed by his grandfather, Grandpa Disguisey (Harold Gould), that he needs to channel a mystical power known as energico that all Disguisey’s possess in order to nurture his latent impersonation abilities to rescue his father and restore the status quo.
All Bits And Not A Hit
Having had the potential to be the next Austin Powers franchise (maybe a bit of a stretch), The Master of Disguise falls flat in every conceivable way because the above-mentioned plot is hardly explored to its fullest potential, but rather serves as a vehicle for Dana Carvey to dress up in various costumes and talk in silly voices.
The idea of a man shapeshifting into ridiculous characters to complete a mission that’s so near and dear to his heart could have been executed in a way that served Carvey’s talents while also serving the story because it’s a fun twist on the tried-and-true secret agent movies we all know and love.
Instead, we get Dana Carvey dressing up like a foul-mouthed old lady who talks at length about her private parts, and a giant turtle who also somehow has the ability to steal the nose right off his company’s face before spinning around on the ground like Homer Simpson when he makes that “Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!” sound.
And just in case you forgot that Dana Carvey knows how to do a top-tier impression of George H.W. Bush, he kinda-sorta reprises the role in the form of his character disguising himself as George W. Bush, which functions as nothing more than poor lip service to his time on SNL that’s shoehorned into The Master of Disguise without any rhyme or reason.
A For Effort, F For Execution
The Master of Disguise, though not an SNL production, suffers in the same ways as films like A Night at the Roxbury and It’s Pat did in the sense that it simply didn’t need to be a movie because there’s not a whole lot to work with. Using its premise as a vehicle for bits and gags instead of storytelling, its plot is disjointed, and its acting is far from adequate. And to think, if some of these gags were dropped into the screenplay to pad its runtime, it still wasn’t enough to reach the 90-minute mark, which should tell you right off the rip just how much of a trainwreck this movie actually is.
But still, The Master of Disguise does an alright job showcasing Dana Carvey’s talent for impersonation despite its all-over-the-place storytelling. However, clever wardrobe changes and accent work don’t necessarily work in a feature film format if the screenplay doesn’t allow it to, which is why this one is so hard to watch.
If you want to laugh at Dana Carvey, not with him, then you can stream The Master of Disguise for free on Tubi as of this writing.
