When two testosterone-fueled firemen attempt to register as domestic partners in order to bypass the bureaucratic red tape preventing one of them from naming his own two children as his life-insurance beneficiaries, their low-key ruse turns into headline news in this quirky matrimonial comedy starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James. Chuck Levine (Sandler) and Larry Valentine (James) are two New York City firefighters whose longtime friendship has endured many a five-alarm fire. All that widower
Larry wants is to ensure that his two children will be taken care of if anything should happen to him on the job, and all that single blaze-battler Chuck wants is to carry on with his carefree life of noncommitment. Having once rescued Larry from certain death in a particularly fearsome inferno, beholden Chuck feels forever indebted to his brave friend and has vowed to repay the favor when the time is right. When Larry discovers that the only means of circumventing the civic red tape that could throw his children's futures into jeopardy is to take Chuck as his lawfully wedded husband, his obligated pal reluctantly agrees to step up to the alter with the understanding that the arrangement will be a well-kept secret between themselves and the justice of the peace. A potentially fatal flaw in their presumably foolproof plan is soon revealed, however, when an overzealous bureaucrat decides to question Chuck and Larry's partnership. Subsequently forced to embark on a mandatory honeymoon and pose as starry-eyed newlyweds, Chuck and Larry quickly discover just how important it can be to stick by a friend in his or her time of need. Jessica Biel, Steve Buscemi, Ving Rhames, and Dan Aykroyd co-star in a comedy from The Benchwarmers director Dennis Dugan. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
There is something to be said for a movie that may end up preaching, for a change, to the unconverted. If only the laughs were bigger, smarter and more frequent than they are.
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry manages to insult gays, straights, men, women, children, African-Americans, Asians, pastors, mailmen, insurance adjusters, firemen, doctors -- and fans of show music. That's championship stuff.
With a tacked-on PC message and leaden attempts at humor, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry is a movie that gives marriage, homosexuality, friendship, firefighters, children and nearly everything else a bad name.
Chuck and Larry remains something close to remarkable: an Adam Sandler movie that manages to be crude and caring in equal measure. In the multiplex, this is called progress.
If there were a Straight Lack-of-Pride Parade, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry could be the grand marshal. The movie isn't insulting to homosexuals but to comedy.
While it's very easy to eviscerate Chuck and Larry from an activist point of view, all one really has to do to slam the flick is look at the lazy, contrived writing and the traffic-cop direction by frequent Sandler accomplice Dennis Dugan.
What truly makes [the film] so detestable is its disingenuous attempt to justify itself with a tacked-on call for acceptance of all people and lifestyles.
They could have focused more on the similarities of best friends and a gay couple. Instead, they just try to offend everyone in sight and then act sorry at the end.
You know a movie is going to be bad when Rob Schneider shows up as a Chinese wedding chapel minister. No, come to think of it, you know a movie is going to be bad when Rob Schneider shows up at all
Not as funny as I thought it could be, I love Kevin James ('The King of Queens' rocks) but this just isn't up there. Really wanted to love it but just found myself struggling to smile, as for Adam Sandler..his character is just the same as every other comedy character he plays, getting rather dull now methinks. The
story is kinda cool, two men pretending to be gay is always a show stopper haha and there are some good moments like Sandler slapping James' face and James pretending to love it, but nothing special. Just the usual, predictable lines and ending really, stick with 'King of Queens' and some of Sandlers earlier films where his everyman portrayal is at its original best.
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