A genuinely distasteful comedy in which Adam Sandler and Kevin James star as a pair of staunchly heterosexual pals who attempt to pass as a married gay couple in order to reap the insurance benefits. It's not a pretty picture, regardless of where you're coming from. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry is an equal opportunity offender, slinging idiot slurs (disguised as gags) at all races, creeds and colors, but the vast majority of its infantile barbs, as you might imagine, are directed at all things homosexual.
What makes the movie especially offensive is its passive-aggressive approach — for every three or four schoolyard gay jokes and broad stereotypes, it dutifully sneaks in one "gays are OK" or "prejudice is bad" message — and, this being a big, predictable Hollywood movie, we're pretty much assured that, after the film has for most of its running time encouraged us to smile at its repugnant cheap shots, even its most aggressively homophobic characters will eventually see the light. Even when the film tries to do the right thing, though, it comes off more patronizing than P.C.
Part of the reason I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry pulls so hard in so many different directions is undoubtedly due to the large number of mismatched talents responsible for bringing it into the world. The director here is Dennis Dugan, who also gave us Sandler's Happy Gilmore and the truly despicable Benchwarmers, and one of the movie's primary writers put in time on both The Golden Girls and Kingpin (which may account for the heaping helpings of Chuck and Larry's Farrelly Brothers-like raunch). Also receiving script credit, however, are Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor — the brains behind such noteworthy efforts as Sideways — input that probably gave the movie whatever humanity it possesses, schizophrenic though it is.
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (PG-13) Stars Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Jessica Biel, Ving Rhames and Steve Buscemi. Opens July 20 at local theaters. 1 star
This article appears in Jul 18-24, 2007.