I'm going to be completely honest when I say that I am not really a fan of Richard Gere at all. I've seen Pretty Woman and Hachi: A Dog's Tale (honestly the latter was better) and so, based off of his reputation as an 80's heartthrob, I was just expecting mediocre acting with a large focus on his body and face that everyone seems to love. And I was not disappointed in that sense, because that's exactly what I got: mediocre acting and body shots.
I have not heard of this film before I watched it for my Introduction to Film class, and I guess there is a reason for that. The main focus of the film in regards to my class was its use of displaying the male body and the role-reversal of its main protagonist. It is very interesting to see how Gere's body was the one that was ogled over the entire time instead of the woman. However, I felt like that's all the appeal that this film had. I assume the writers of the film heard that Gere was on board with the project and then relinquished their hard work to rely on him to carry the film no matter what crap they wrote. That didn't work. The plot of the film was a basic murder drama, and it was so dull that I could not pay attention to what was happening or when the critical points were supposed to be. This got confusing at times, because I wanted to be interested in this film. I thought the idea of a male prostitute, excuse me, ESCORT, was very interesting to see how the gender roles were reversed in this type of situation. But throwing in a lackluster plot left me feeling uneasy, especially because there seemed to be no sense of direction. As for the ending, the actual murder of the gay manager sending Gere's character to prison was very sudden and unnecessary, and leading to the very last scene where Gere is begging the woman to help him get out of jail was anti-climactic to say the least. The entire film just felt very drawn-out and lost.
The other elements in the film that I did not like were the acting and the music choices. Richard Gere, while considered a great actor in his own sense, did not seem to be fully invested in this film. It may be my personal judgment that is stopping me from seeing what everyone else apparently is, but I truly think that Gere was only cast in this so he could take his clothes off and everyone could see his dick. His acting was wildly mediocre, but he did make a convincing male escort so I will give him credit for that. Another piece of this film that I found laughable was the soundtrack. The film opens with Blondie's classic "Call Me," which makes sense because Gere's character is an escort. But I guess they used all of the film's budget on hiring Gere because the same recognizable rhythm of "Call Me" was used in a lot of different contexts throughout. For example, when Gere is sad about accidentally killing his gay manager, a depressing version of the song was quietly playing in the background. I couldn't help but to laugh during this, no matter how serious the scene. This film wasn't bad in any sense, it was just too long and extremely boring. My favorite aspect is the gender reversal plot device, but there wasn't much else to the story for the audience to hang on to.
American Gigolo is a very tedious and honestly unnecessary film that easily could have been made into a short film or a short scene in something else. While Richard Gere is eye candy for two hours, that is about all he provides. I wouldn't exactly recommend this film, unless you are REALLY dedicated to Gere's, umm, personality.
My Rating: ★★½
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