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Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: ...Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

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#1 of 3 Posted 7/16/07 10:32 PM

From Harveycritic Posts 1637 Last Jan-30
To All [Msg # 22526.1 ]

I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY

Reviewed for CompuServe by Harvey S. Karten
Universal Pictures
Grade: C-
Directed by:    Dennis Dugan
Written By: Barry Fanaro, Alexander Payne,, Jim Taylor
Cast:   Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Jessica Biel, Dan Aykroyd, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi
Screened at: AMC 84th St., NYC, 7/16/07
Opens: July 20, 2007

In an early scene, firefighters Chuck Levine (Adam Sandler) and Larry Valentine (Kevin James) are in the hospital, having been injured in a blaze in their native Brooklyn. A beautiful young doctor enters. Chuck calls her “Honey.” She replies, “Address me as ‘doctor.’” “OK, Doctor Honey,” responds Chuck. This repartee is typical of what flows through Dennis Dugan’s “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry,” Is it funny? Yes and no. Yes, it would have been funny in 1950. No, it’s hardly hilarious now, in 2007. Which reminds me of a night club, also in Brooklyn, one called Ben Maksik’s Town and Country.” Every weekend, the place featured a row of people in dresses and high heels kicking on stage like the Rockettes. The gimmick: only one of them is a woman. The audience is challenged to guess which one. Is this amusing? In 1950 it was. The club has been out of business for the past forty years, just as the sort of comedy dished up in the current Happy Madison production. What makes “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” sadder than its outdated notions is that the movie patronizes, and therefore, insults homosexuals, as one of the sentimental themes that emerge implicitly broadcasts, “We know you’re gay, but you’re all right in our book.”

The film is embarrassing at best, featuring a fun-loving lawyer, Alex McDonough (Jessica Biel), who in one scene, her clothing all wet, strips down to her bra and panties in front of Chuck, figuring that it’s OK to do that in front of a client. That’s not all. She’s determined to prove to him that her breasts are real, inviting Chuck to feel–which he does, taking his time at that.   Why not? Happy Madison (that is, Adam Sandler), is the big producer and he calls the shots. If you want to be in his movie and you’re hot, you’ve got to strip, never mind the ethics of the lawyer-client relationship. There’s more. Mr. Sandler fancies himself a great gift to women, his character regularly having hotties by the score parading about his apartment–in groups. Even Doctor Honey! And we thought the match between Ben Stone and Alison Scott in Judd Apatow’s “Knocked Up” was too far out to believe! Try to believe that it took three guys to write the script, and one of them is Alexander Payne (“Sideways”). It’s a man’s world after all.

The premise challenges credibility as well. We’re to believe that because Larry did not report his wife’s death to the New York City pension department within a stated time period, his two kids could not be his beneficiaries if something happened to him. The only way Larry can rescue his pension is to go for a domestic partnership with his best friend, Chuck–who feels obligated to sign the papers because Larry saved his life. If Larry were to die, the money would then go to Chuck and to Larry’s young children.
When their gorgeous lawyer, Alex, advises the two to watch out for an obsessive fraud investigator, Clint Fitzer (Steve Buscemi), they drive up north to Canada and get married, though this does nothing to get the snoop off their backs.

Forget subtlety. When Ving Rhames in the role of firefighter Duncan shocks his co-workers at one point, and when a gay costume party projects its guests in the most flamboyantly stereotypical way, director Dugan is working with a film that would should have found a place as a 5 o’clock TV sitcom.

Sandler, who enjoyed successful, serious roles in “Punch Drunk Love” and “Reign Over Me,” is back doing shtick and appears to have a great time with Kevin James, who has appeared in seven TV episodes of “Everyone Loves Raymond,” and whose character uses the last name of his real-life parents, Valentine. But Richard Chamberlain, in the role of New York City Council’s president presiding over a fraud hearing that would realistically be held before an administrative judge in a small chamber, looks embarrassed–as quite a few gays cannot be blamed for being as well.

Rated PG-13.    115 minutes   © 2007 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics Online

#2 of 3 Posted 7/19/07 2:17 PM

From krbesq00 Posts 1 Last 7/19/07
To Harveycritic [Msg # 22526.2 22526.1 ]

Look, I'm sure this movie sucks and I have no real problem w/ your review, but you do realize that Kevin James headlined a network sitcom for nine years, right? Again, that show was crap, but if you're looking to identify an actor, it's generally understood that you use the most prominent role on his resume, not the fact that he had a non-speaking role on Knight Rider when he was 12.

#3 of 3 Posted 7/19/07 3:49 PM

From Harveycritic Posts 1637 Last Jan-30
To krbesq00 [Msg # 22526.3 22526.2 ] (Unread)

Thanks for the heads-up, krbesq00! -Harvey

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Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: ...Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

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