Trey and I just watched The Master of Disguise, a 2002 film starring Dana Carvey. And when I say "starring," I mean "ended the career of." The film has a 2% "freshness" rating at RottenTomatoes.com, a rating of 12/100 at metacritic.com, and a rating of 3.0/10 from users on IMDB.com. To sum up: it is not popular.

To be fair, the film isn't quite as bad as its reputation would imply. Please don't mistake that backhanded compliment as a recommendation. It's not good. It's really, really not good.

It is pretty clear that the scriptwriters didn't know where to take the plot, despite some amusing but misguided set-ups. The film suffers terribly from being simply under-written, and the unfettered improv "comedy" wanders far from the beaten path in its desperate search for a laugh.

It is even more clear that first-time director Perry Andelin Blake had no business behind the camera. The film's pacing is every bit as erratic as the hit-or-miss comedy bits. It's no surprise that Blake has never been asked to direct another movie.

We watched the film because it was recommended to Trey by one of his drama students who described it as her favorite movie. The next time I hear someone imploring me to "please, think of the children," I am going to think of this girl and this movie. And I'm going to remember that the children of America are probably getting what they deserve.

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