''Big Stan'' is a 2007 American

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

starring, produced and directed by

Rob Schneider Robert Michael Schneider (; born October 31, 1963) is an American actor, comedian, and screenwriter. A stand-up comic and veteran of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'', he went on to a career in feature films, including starri ...

in his directorial debut with help from his company From Out of Nowhere Productions while the rest of the cast consisting of

Jennifer Morrison Jennifer Marie Morrison is an American actress, director, producer, and former child model. She is mainly known for her roles as Dr. Allison Cameron in the medical-drama series ''House'' (2004–2012) and Emma Swan in the ABC adventure-fantas ...

, Scott Wilson,

Henry Gibson Henry Gibson (born James Bateman; September 21, 1935 – September 14, 2009) was an American actor and poet. His best-known roles include his time as a cast member of the TV sketch-comedy series '' Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 1968 to 1 ...

Richard Kind Richard Bruce Kind (born November 22, 1956) is an American actor and comedian, known for his roles as Dr. Mark Devanow in '' Mad About You'' (1992–1999, 2019), Paul Lassiter in ''Spin City'' (1996–2002), Andy in ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' (200 ...

Sally Kirkland Sally Kirkland (born October 31, 1941) is an American film, television and stage actress and producer. A former member of Andy Warhol's The Factory and an active member in 1960s New York avant-garde theater, she has appeared in more than 250 fi ...

Jackson Rathbone Monroe Jackson Rathbone V (born December 14, 1984) is an American actor, singer, and musician best known for his role as Jasper Hale in ''The Twilight Saga'' film series. From 2008 to 2012, he was the vocalist and occasional guitarist, bassist, ...

M. Emmet Walsh Michael Emmet Walsh (born March 22, 1935) is an American actor who has appeared in over 200 films and television series, including small but important supporting roles in dozens of major studio features of the 1970s and 1980s. He starred in ''Bl ...

and

David Carradine David Carradine ( ; born John Arthur Carradine Jr.; December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009) was an American actor best known for playing martial arts roles. He is perhaps best known as the star of the 1970s television series ''Kung Fu'', playi ...

. It tells the story of a real estate con artist who gets sentenced to three years in prison and spends the six months before it getting trained to survive in prison by a martial arts guru. This film was Gibson's final role before his death in 2009. Although released in some markets during the fall of 2008, it was released straight to DVD in the U.S. on March 24, 2009. It debuted at number 17 on the DVD rental charts of March 23–30, 2009.

Plot

Stan Minton (

) is a wealthy real estate

con artist A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers ha ...

, married to Mindy (

). One day, he is arrested for conning elderly people out of their savings. His lawyer Mal (

) defends him at the trial presided over by Judge Perry (

Richard Riehle Richard Riehle (born May 12, 1948) is an American character actor. He portrayed Walt Finnerty on '' Grounded for Life'' (2001–2005) and The Warden on ''The Young and the Restless'' (2007). He also appeared in over 200 films, including '' Glory ...

) as the forewoman (

) finds him guilty where the sentencing will be tomorrow. While talking with Stan, Mal refuses to bribe Judge Perry since he does not practice that kind of law and states to Stan that any

shyster Shyster (also spelled ''schiester'', ''scheister'', ''shiester'', etc.) is a slang word for someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law, sometimes also politics or economics. Etymology Th ...

on the street would do it for him. Inspired by the bench advertisement outside, Stan fires Mal from the case and hires Lew Popper (

) as a replacement for the sentencing. Judge Perry sentences Stan to 3 years at the Verlaine State Correctional Facility while giving him 6 months by Judge Perry to "reorganize the charity" Stan established to teach music to mentally disabled children. As he can't go on a permanent vacation to Brazil on Lew's advice due to his assets being frozen, Stan's fear of jailhouse rape strains his marriage to Mindy. This leads him to hire the mysterious

guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...

known as "The Master" (

) who helps transform him into a martial-arts expert. During his incarceration, Stan befriends an elderly inmate named Larry who is serving a life sentence for murdering his partner. Stan also befriends a sympathetic prison guard named Bullard ( Kevin Gage) and learns more about the cliques and gang activities formed inside the prison. He then uses his new-found skills to bring peace and harmony to the prison yard by intimidating his fellow inmates like Big Raymond (

Bob Sapp Robert Malcolm Sapp (born September 22, 1973) is an American mixed martial artist, kickboxer, professional wrestler, actor, and former American football player. He is currently under contract with Rizin Fighting Federation. Sapp has a combined ...

) into preventing them from harming each other. With this, peace is restored in at Verlaine State Correctional Facility and Stan gains their respect, eventually becoming their leader. However, the corrupt warden Gasque ( Scott Wilson) has plans to force its closure with a riot and sell off the property as valuable real estate. Stan helps him with the real estate aspects in exchange for early parole. However, his peacemaking efforts threaten the warden's plan for a riot and he is persuaded to bring back violence. In a last minute attack of conscience, he deliberately blows the parole hearing to rush back and prevent the deaths of his fellow inmates only to discover that his message of peace has sunk in and the prisoners are dancing instead of fighting. Warden Gasque orders the guards to open fire on the dancing men. When they refuse, he grabs a gun in front of the Board of Governors and shoots wildly. Warden Gasque attempts to shoot Stan, but he is stopped by Mindy and the Master, who had sneaked in. Stan was surprised that the Master had trained Mindy during his incarceration when he thought they were having an affair during an earlier phone call. Three years later, Stan leaves the prison where Bullard had been sworn in as the new warden of Verlaine State Correctional Facility. Gasque becomes the new inmate following his arrest for his illegal activities as Big Raymond intimidates him to say goodbye to Stan. Lew is also an inmate after he had foreseen that he would be arrested for having slept with a member of the jury and for being a corrupted lawyer. Stan is met by his wife, his young daughter Mindy Jr., and the Master outside the prison. While the Master has become Mindy Jr.'s nanny, Stan is annoyed that he has been smoking near her.

Cast

as "Big" Stan Minton, a rich real estate con artist. *

as Mindy Minton, Stan's wife. * Scott Wilson as Francis Gasque, the corrupt prison warden of Verlaine State Correctional Facility who seeks to get the prison closed down so that he can sell the land. *

as Larry / "Shorts", an inmate that Stan befriends who is serving a life sentence for killing his partner. *

as Mal, Stan's lawyer. *

as Madame Foreman, a jury member that finds Stan guilty. *

as Robbie, an inmate who is a hippie and former drug dealer. *

as Lew Popper, a shyster that Stan replaces Mal with during his trial. *

as The Master, a martial arts guru that trains Stan to survive prison. * Marcelo Ortega as Big Haa, an inmate. *

Marcia Wallace Marcia Karen Wallace (November 1, 1942 – October 25, 2013) was an American actress and comedian, primarily known for her roles in television situation comedies. She is best known for her roles as receptionist Carol Kester on the 1970s sitc ...

as Alma *

Diego Corrales Diego "Chico" Corrales Jr. (August 25, 1977 – May 7, 2007) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2007. He was a multiple-time world champion in two weight divisions, having held the IBF super featherweight title from 19 ...

as Julio *

Randy Couture Randall Duane Couture (; born June 22, 1963) is an American actor, former U.S. Army sergeant, former mixed martial artist and former collegiate and Greco-Roman wrestler. During his tenures in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), he became ...

as Carnahan *

Don Frye Donald Frye (born November 23, 1965) is an American former mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, and actor. In MMA, he was one of the sport's earliest well-rounded fighters and won the '' UFC 8'' and ''Ultimate Ultimate 96'' tournaments ...

as Nation Member * Brandon Molale as Guard Piken *

Lil Rob Roberto L. Flores (born September 21, 1975), better known by his stage name Lil Rob, is an American rapper, producer, and actor. Biography Flores was born in San Diego and raised in La Colonia de Eden Gardens, a Mexican American neighborhood in ...

as Inmate * Brandon T. Jackson as Deshawn, an inmate. *

Olivia Munn Lisa Olivia Munn (born July 3, 1980) is an American actress and former television host. After an internship at a news station in Tulsa, she moved to Los Angeles where she began her professional career as a television host for the gaming network ...

as Maria, a secretary. *

Barbara Dodd Barbara may refer to: People * Barbara (given name) * Barbara (painter) (1915–2002), pseudonym of Olga Biglieri, Italian futurist painter * Barbara (singer) (1930–1997), French singer * Barbara Popović (born 2000), also known mononymously ...

as Mrs. Darby, an old lady that Stan tried to con. *

as Judge Perry, a judge that presides over Stan's trial. * Kevin Gage as Bullard, a sympathetic prison guard. *

Dan Inosanto Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivo ...

as Prison Chef *

as Big Raymond, a tough inmate. * Tsuyoshi Abe as Dang, a Vietnamese Mafia member and one of the Master's students. *

Ahman Green Ahman Rashad Green (; born February 16, 1977) is a former American football running back who played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Green played college football at Nebraska Cornhuskers football, Nebraska and was drafted by the ...

as Lee Otis, a former bank robber and inmate. *

Salvator Xuereb Salvator, original spelling of Salvador, may refer to: * Paulaner Salvator, the original doppelbock brand * ''Salvator'' (lizard), a genus of lizards * Salvator (horse) (1886–1909), an American thoroughbred racehorse * Salvator of Horta (1520� ...

as Patterson, the leader of the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

Prison Gang. * Buddy Lewis as Cleon, the leader of the Black Prison Gang. * Peter Vasquez as Juanito, the leader of the Mexican Prison Gang. *

Megan Cavanagh Megan Cavanagh (born November 8, 1960) is an American actress, who is best known for portraying Marla Hooch in ''A League of Their Own'' and the voice of Judy Neutron in '' Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius'' and '' The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy G ...

as a Parole Board member. *

Dan Haggerty Daniel Francis Haggerty (November 19, 1942 – January 15, 2016) was an American actor who was best known for playing the title role in the film and television series '' The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams''. Early life Haggerty's birthplace ...

as an ex-con who is gay * Faith Womack as Mindy Jr., Stan and Mindy's daughter. * Andrew Bernhard as Inmate Rob Schneider's mother Pilar cameos as one of the Board of Governors. Wes Takahashi, former animator and visual effects supervisor for

Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded on May 26, 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when he began ...

, makes a cameo appearance as a bartender.

Production

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

the film has an approval rating of 11% based on reviews from 9 critics (1 positive, 8 negative), with an average rating of 3.00/10. Julie Rigg of the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

was highly critical of the rape-based humor, and concluded " I wasted two valuable hours of my life on ''Big Stan''—don't make the same mistake." Writing for ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', Paul Byrnes asked "If there's been a clumsier, dumber, more casually put together collection of badly timed gags, racial stereotypes and lazy performances this year, I have yet to see it...How could chneiderbe in so many movies over a 20-year career and learn so little about making a movie?" Brian Orndorf of DVDTalk.com called it "a forgettable, unfunny waste of time". He criticized the "unrelenting" repetition of rape jokes, but believed that Schneider acted the character's fear of rape convincingly. MovieHole rated it 3.5 out of 5 and called it Schneider's best film since '' The Hot Chick''.

References

External links

* * {{Rotten-tomatoes, big-stan 2007 films 2000s crime comedy films American crime comedy films American prison comedy films Films directed by Rob Schneider Films shot in California Crystal Sky Pictures films 2007 directorial debut films 2007 comedy films Films about rape 2000s English-language films 2000s American films