There’s nothing wrong with that (Seinfeld reference)
With the cost of health care, the possible loss of pension and the typical broken homes, it’s not too far fetched to think that two perfectly straight men would attempt marriage, so that they could get benefits. I know that’s the premise for I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, but I’m sure there are couples that actually went through with this. They probably didn’t do it as funny as this, but I’m sure they did it.
Chuck and Larry are firefighters. Larry saved Chuck’s life during a routine check of a burnt structure after a fire. When Larry finds out that the possibility that his pension may not be passed to his kids, he calls in a huge favor from Chuck. To save his pension, Larry proposes (apologies for the pun) a domestic partnership to Chuck. Chuck, who is the ladies’ man of the group, reluctantly agrees. Problems arise when the state of New Yrok becomes suspicious of their fake marriage and sends one of their best investigators to expose the straight couple. Chuck and Larry counter that by hiring a super-hot lawyer named Alex (Jessica Biel) to represent them. To avoid jail time, and save Larry’s pension, the couple must prove to the investigator, the state and their co-workers that they truly do love each other.
I had heard so many bad things about this film, and it didn’t surprise me considering that Happy Madison Productions has produced a lot of awful films as of late. I was disheartened to think that a movie with Sandler and James could be a flop. The story itself seemed humorous, and these two guys playing a gay couple had endless possibilities. This movie helped reinforce the fact that you shouldn’t listen to other people before you see a film. You shouldn’t judge a production company on previous films (though they do have their share) when it comes to recent ones. I really enjoyed I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. Don’t get me wrong, there were moments where I just shook my head and asked why, but for the most part the movie took itself serious enough to carry some good questions about situations like this. The concept of homosexuality cannot be taken lightly, even for a comedy. This movie doesn’t take the subject lightly, even when it jokes about it here and there. Strangely enough, there is a bigger picture here and James and Sandler show what that is. Is it fair for a single man to have to worry about losing his pension? Probably not, but there are some states that will do that to you. Should people go to extreme measures, such as acting homosexual, to get benefits they’re owed? More importantly, it’s not too far off to think that states make sure that domestic couples are truly ‘gay’. That alone is enough discrimination to take this movie serious. It’s not simply two guys acting gay to create good comedy. There is substance here and it’s a strong underlying subject that has comedy to boot.
Now, the film isn’t perfect. One, if Sandler’s character hooked up with that many women it would be nothing short of miraculous. I’m not saying this because Sandler is repulsive or anything, but because it’s impossible. The way they wrote his character was a bit too much. If he truly was that much of a ladies’ man then there’s no way he would have agreed to marry his friend. They certainly take his character building way too far at the beginning to make the rest believable. Kevin James’ Larry is a different story. He was written perfectly and it turned out perfectly. When these two are together it’s fun to watch, though their subtle change from straight to gay (when it comes to social interaction) is a bit flaky, especially when they fight on the rooftop where a man has fallen down a pipe. Another flaky part of the character interaction is Chuck’s moment with Alex. While Biel is hot, she might be too much for this to be believable. If someone lies to you and tells you that they’re gay and then comes back towards in the end of the film and says he’s straight, would you forgive them quickly? This is much too quick of a resolve between Chuck and Alex.
With all that said, the movie still does outperform most critics expectations whether they care to admit or not. There are too many social messages that are too strongly presented to make the film a flop. Had they just made this a series of skits then this would be a different story. They progress the storyline from different well-placed plot points. You have two friends at the beginning who obviously love and respect each other. It progresses even deeper win Larry saves Chuck’s life. Chuck returns the favor by helping Larry out. Eventually they both become engrossed with the gay world and help that cause out and even inspire other gay men (who I shall not name because it’s a good surprise) to come out. At the end of the film, they not only defend the entire state of homosexuality, but also straight folk as well. When put together it’s not great, but it sure is good enough to enjoy.
Universal clearly knows what it’s doing
Over and over again, I’m dumbfounded about how Universal is consistently getting the film to HD transfer right and other film studios don’t seem to do the same. It’s not one or two great HD films, but rather every film I’ve seen from Universal has maintained a high quality of high definition on Blu-ray. Whatever they are doing, they’re doing it well. This movie is no exception, you get some great visuals on a 1080p set. Sharp colors, excellent detail and some really great sound. All around this Blu-ray will fit perfectly with any other top-notch BDs you have on your shelf.
As for features, here’s where the movie is lacking a bit:
– Commentary from Dennis Dugan, Adam Sandler and Kevin James
– BD-Live
I love the commentary from the three gentlemen, but wish there was more to the features. For such a good comedy you must have more features.
