Loverboy (2004, DVD)

Loverboy is a comedy from the late 1980 s that stars Patrick Dempsey and a handful of character actors. I never realized how much Deuce Bigalow borrowed from this film until now, because both movies are about a nerdy guy who stumbles into a job as a gigolo. The twist is that this gigolo rarely ever provides sex, but instead makes the women feel loved. He gives dancing lessons to one, takes photos of another to make her feel beautiful, and so on.

In the opening segments, Dempsey s character is a bleached blonde punk rocker who is flunking out of college and hiding his roommate/girlfriend from his parents. When his parents see his last report card, they decide to stop sending him to college and make him get a job. This creates a problem for Dempsey because he can no longer see his girlfriend, and she dumps him because of the loser that he is. Dempsey then takes a job as a pizza delivery guy, but only until he can make enough money to pay for one more semester of school and win back his girl.

During a pizza delivery, Dempsey has a chance encounter with a beautiful millionaire who is attracted to the sweetness of his character. Their relationship is very short-lived, but her code for him to delivery more than just a pizza is for her to order one with extra anchovies. When the millionaire leaves town, more orders come into the restaurant from women wanting a pizza with extra anchovies, and they want it delivered to local hotels. Very soon, Dempsey inadvertently turns into the local loverboy. The plentiful money ($200 per delivery ) puts him that much closer to getting back into college and winning back his girl.

If you really wanted to dig deep, you might say this is a film about the nature of relationships and what people need to feel loved. The gift of Dempsey s character is that he gives the women what their husbands don t, and it is rarely ever sex. He just fills that void in their lives that makes those women feel needed and wanted again. When the husbands start to suspect that something is amiss, the results are hilarious. Even Dempsey s own parents have some issues, but I won t spoil any of that fun for you.

Patrick Dempsey seemed poised to take off with a career like John Cusack, but he sort of fizzled out until recently. He went from being a skinny nerd guy to a sex symbol, and is currently enjoying great success on the television show Gray s Anatomy. Keep in mind that although Cusack may be considered a big star now, he went for a long period by making movies that mostly nobody saw, and his leading man status was only recently renewed. I think Dempsey might be making a movie comeback very soon. His role in this film required an enormous amount of physical action, including plenty of dance sequences. There is no doubt that this guy has plenty of talent, and he gets to show off in this movie.

I love watching these 80 s movies from when I was younger because it reminds me of what I used to think was cool. From the weird hairstyles to the tacky clothes, I remember when all that stuff was trendy. It is fun to revisit these classic movies and experience a sense of nostalgia from when my life was more simple. Loverboy may not be as memorable as Ferris Bueller s Day Off, but it represents the era well.

The DVD print of this film comes with no special features and only a 2.0 channel stereo sound track. The audio is very clean, especially the music, but the picture quality is grainy in some places. For the most part, this movie plays well, but I think a few extras would have been nice.