I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry
2/4
poster

Details & Information from IMDB

Genre Comedy
Year 2007
Duration 110 min
Rating 6.3 out of 10
Description: "They're as straight as can be, but don't tell anyone."

Two straight, single Brooklyn firefighters (Sandler, James) pretend to be a gay couple in order to receive domestic partner benefits.
Comments: Gay jokes have always been staple of Adam Sandler comedies. It goes with Sandler's juvenile, boyish sense of humor. As far back as his "Saturday Night Live" days, Sandler has been serving up gay jokes left and right. It was only a matter of time until Sandler decided to extend his love of gay humor to feature length. What's surprising is how well I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry actually works. I've often said the best movies are the ones that have a point for existence. When millions are being spent, there should be a reason. Most of Sandler's pictures have had a message, however small they be. Billy Madison made it clear to its young audience to stay in school. Click made it painfully obvious that family is important. Now 'Chuck and Larry' comes with a message about tolerance and acceptance. I wasn't going to write a comment about 'Chuck and Larry', but after reading the critics' extremely venomous reaction to the flick, I think that they miss the point. Many have labeled it hypocritical for wanting to laugh at gays while standing up for them. Honestly I think the critics who say that had their minds made up about the film before they viewed it. The characters making homophobic remarks and jokes are seen as ignorant and unaware. True, there are stereotypes present, though most of them are stereotypes that the characters believe to be true. I found Brokeback Mountain to have just as many if not more stereotypes than are present here yet that was intended to be a serious drama.

80% of the jokes in 'Chuck & Larry' work the ones that don't are simply due to pacing. There's about ten more minutes of fat that could have been sucked out of the running time. Luckily, it's nowhere as dreadfully long as the Knocked Up was. However, I do wish that the film shared Knocked Up's R-rating (trims were made to make this a PG-13). There are times when the editing is extremely obvious and distracting, which took me out of the scene at times. Here's hoping for the original cut to be released on DVD. Somehow I doubt that it will. As satisfying as 'Chuck & Larry' is, seeing it as intended would be more fulfilling.

7/10