I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry brings together Adam Sandler and Kevin James, two of our days funniest actors into the summer cinema scene with the most confused theme of the summer. Dennis Dugan (the standard director for Adam Sandler movies) somehow managed to make a movie that is half pro-gay rights and half homophobic. The movie is pretty one-dimensional, with nearly all of the jokes referring to homosexuality, or homophobia. At times, it seems more like a sequence of gay jokes than a film. But it works – for the most part…

Larry (James) convinces his best friend, Chuck (Sandler) to become his Domestic Partner in order to ensure that his benefits would go to his children in the event of his death. Chuck, a womanizing playboy from Brooklyn agrees (adhering to a “code” among firemen because Larry saved his life) and they wed in a silly ceremony performed by a ridiculous Asian chapel owner portrayed by Rob Schneider in his obligatory role. But, when their gayness is contested by the city, they hire the quintessential hot lawyer chick (Jessica Biel) to help them fight for their (gay) rights.

It’s not long before they are under a full investigation by the city’s appointed “gay verification specialist” played by Steve Buscemi, who plays sleezy and greasy like none other. Chuck begins to fall for Alex (the hot lawyer) and Larry struggles to let go of his wife who died several years ago. These plot lines, obviously, make it very difficult for the two to hide their scam, and much hilarity ensues.

I found I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry to be a pretty standard Happy Madison movie, and I must say that I got what I expected. No surprises at all. A lot of the best jokes were given away in the previews, but there were still some funny moments.

There were several other stars of note in the movie as well (and some fun cameos). Ving Rhames plays a fellow firefighter (who is actually gay). Dan Aykroyd is the Fire Captain and Rachel Dratch (who I personally loathe) plays (the only role she knows) a ditsy office worker who mugs to the camera a lot.

Dave Matthews has a small non-speaking part as a gay shop owner. He is quite a good actor, and he does well in his scene. David Spade shows up a couple times… Lance Bass also has a small cameo – because he’s gay.

All in all, I got what I expected from this movie. It’s not going to be the best comedy of the year, but it is good for some laughs.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 22nd, 2007 at 11:58 am and is filed under Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.