Big Stan

Review by Anthony Morris

It is really hard to pin down exactly why it is that Big Stan doesn't quite work. 

It doesn't make the usual mistakes that condemn a film to the scrap heap : the story makes internal sense, the characters are consistent, the drama builds to a logical conclusion, and even the performances - for a broad comedy of this kind - are good. 

Maybe it is all the jokes, comments and references to male rape?

But again, those jokes aren't exactly gratuitous - in fact, they are vital to the story...

Stan (Rob Schneider, who also directs) is a dodgy real-estate scam artist who gets busted, goes to court, and sentenced to a hefty term in prison. Fortunately, his crooked lawyer has managed to defer the beginning of his sentence by six months to give him time to put his affairs in order.

Terrified of being raped in prison, Stan trains up with the chain-smoking Master (David Carradine) so that when he finally does go to jail, he is pretty much, well... rape-proof.

And being rape-proof soon makes him king of the prison, but will he risk his new, rape-free regime for the chance of early release if he helps the warden out with his crooked real estate scam? 

Part broad comedy, part action movie (Schneider looks really buff here and the action stuff isn't half bad either) this is a lot better than many of the low-end comedies out this year. 

That said, it does have literally dozens of jokes and references to male rape and some of them are a little weird (and very off-putting) for any kind of film, comedy or not. 

One thing is for sure: you are not going to see another film like this one this (or any other) year.

2 out of 5

Big Stan
Australian release: 20th November, 2008
Cast: Rob Schneider, Brandon Molale, David Carradine
Director: Rob Schneider