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Not so happily ever after
A pleasant cast turns what could have been an obnoxious film into an experience that's blessedly forgettable.
By By Marty Clear, Times correspondent
Published July 19, 2007
REVIEW
I Now Pronounce You Chuck & LarryGrade: C-
Director: Dennis Dugan
Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Jessica Biel
Screenplay: Barry Fanaro, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor and Lew Gallo
Rating: PG-13 for crude sexual content throughout, nudity, language and drug references
Running time: 115 min.
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All the indicators point to a truly wretched film experience.
The nonsensical premise, the cast full of Saturday Night Live hacks including David Spade, who adds his usual subtlety, the sexism, the puerile jokes and the paint-by-numbers story line could all lead one to believe that I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry would be a serious chore to sit through.
But despite all it has going against it, Chuck & Larry doesn't turn out to be putrid, or at least not putrid from beginning to end.
It's mostly a handful of appealing performances that make this latest Adam Sandler project marginally bearable. Sandler is exactly the same as usual, blank-faced and slightly befuddled, and whether you find him likable or annoying is a matter of taste.
But co-stars Kevin James and Jessica Biel interject some warmth, and bit players Ving Rhames (playing very much against type as an effeminate gay man), Steve Buscemi and Richard Chamberlain all have fun with their roles.
Essentially, the story line is one part Tootsie and five parts Revenge of the Nerds. Macho firemen Sandler and James pose as a married gay couple. James' wife has died, and it's only by pretending to be married to Sandler that his kids can get his benefits should he be killed on the job. (The premise is explained at length in the movie, but it still doesn't make much sense.)
The men are bullied by religious homophobes and shunned by friends and co-workers. But Sandler manages to strike up a platonic friendship with Biel that he would like to be more.
Suddenly, Chuck and Larry realize that they're basically bigoted, sexist jerks, and they instantly change their ways. Finally, of course, all the antagonists gather for an inspirational scene in which they apologize and atone for their prejudices.
The first hour or so is essentially unpleasant, a parade of unfunny and often mean-spirited gay jokes and stereotypes that lasts way too long.
Once the movie starts to show some heart, it becomes bearable and, for some moments, actually enjoyable. It never manages any real laughs (unless you, like director Dennis Dugan, whose last oeuvre was the profoundly offensive The Benchwarmers, think the sight of an 800-pound man being dragged from a burning building is hilarious), but there are a couple of decent chuckles here and there.
That this movie ends up being forgettable is a real achievement, and a blessing. So many aspects of it are so nasty, and so intellectually insulting, that you'd expect them to burrow into your memory. But the pleasant cast turns it into the kind of film you can barely remember an hour after the final credits roll.
Marty Clear can be reached at mclear@tampabay.rr.com.
[Last modified July 17, 2007, 18:02:46]
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