In theaters

THE LIMEY. Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Written by Lem Dobbs. Running time: 89 minutes. Rated R.

Even Los Angeles is no match for a limey.

As tough and unseemly as the city looks in Steven Soderbergh’s outstanding new film “The Limey,” it pales next to the tougher, wild-eyed vision of Wilson (Terrence Stamp), a steely, silver-haired, British ex-con who descends on Los Angeles with a gun in his hand, revenge in his heart and a burning mission in his gut: Find the man responsible for his daughter Jenny’s death and make him pay for it.

That man is Terry Valentine (Peter Fonda), a smarmy, super-rich record producer who is just naive enough to believe he can flirt with the big bosses of high crime — and never be touched by it.

If none of this sounds especially new, it isn’t. The film owes its soul to the works of Raymond Chandler and Chester Gould. But Soderbergh nevertheless is able to spark his film by evoking the past — literally.

In an effort to give Wilson a history, Soderbergh lifts key scenes from Ken Loach’s 1967 film, “Poor Cow,” which starred a much younger Stamp. The effect is mesmerizing, seamless — and smart. By wedding the two films, Soderbergh not only shows his audience how Wilson’s thievery affected his relationship with his daughter, but also, in an unexpectedly gentle scene where Wilson plays his guitar for Jenny and her mother (Carol White), how affable Wilson was before the repercussions of his profession took their toll on him and those in his life.

With superb performances from Stamp, Fonda, Leslie Ann Warren, Barry Newman and Luis Guzman, “The Limey” is more complex, focused and visually assured than Soderbergh’s last film, “Out of Sight.” It’s also more knowing, particularly with Wilson, an older man from an old country whose old ways make mincemeat out of the players in Los Angeles. Grade: A

DEUCE BIGALOW: MALE GIGOLO. Directed by Mike Mitchell. Written by Rob Schneider and Harris Goldberg. Running time: 84 minutes. Rated R.

It should surprise no one that Mike Mitchell’s “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo” isn’t nearly as lyrical as its title might otherwise suggest.

The film, which stars Rob Schneider of “Saturday Night Live” and “Men Behaving Badly,” is a clumsy, twisted bit of silliness whose rollicking premise quickly exhausts itself after just a few laps around the bedroom.

The film features Schneider as Deuce Bigalow, a Los Angeles-based fish tank cleaner who damages a client’s apartment, must come up with $6,000 to repair it, and decides the best way to do that is to follow his client’s lead and become a gigolo.

If you’ve seen the film’s trailer, then you’ve seen the best parts of the movie, which finds Deuce hustling a unique bevy of women: one with Tourette’s syndrome, a narcoleptic, a giantess named Tina and an amputee.

Sometimes the humor is inspired, particularly when Deuce takes the woman with Tourette’s to a baseball game (her constant shouting and swearing makes her a natural for that crowd), but too often the jokes fall flat on their back — which, to some, may seem fitting.

But not in a comedy. Grade: C-

Christopher Smith’s reviews appear each Monday and Thursday in the NEWS, each Tuesday and Thursday on WLBZ’s “NEWS CENTER 5:30 Today” and “NEWS CENTER Tonight,” and each Saturday and Sunday on NEWS CENTER’s statewide “Morning Report.”