There was a time when I was among that large fraternity of Adam Sandler fans- Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore and the Wedding Singer- are all movies I still find to be hilarious and extremely quotable. However, over the last few years I have been distancing myself from him because, well, his movies have basically started sucking. I am, though, a fan of Kevin James and I thought the premise of this movie was interesting. Plus Jessica Biel is incredibly hot the trailers make the most of the fact, so I figured I would check it out. It couldn't be that bad, right? Right?
Larry Valentine(Kevin James) and Chuck Levine(Adam Sandler) are firefighters and best friends. Valentine is a widower/single parent and Levine is a disgusting womanizer, but they have a male bond that cannot be broken. After Larry saves Chuck's life in a fire, Chuck tells Larry that he will do anything Larry needs at anytime. Larry has been trying to get all of his benefits in his kid's names but do to a flawed system he isn't able to and the only way to do it is to get married or enter into a domestic partnership. He hatches the plan and eventually gets Chuck to sign on after promising no one will ever actually know. The government decides to check up on them to make sure it is all legit and madness ensues. They hire a lawyer, Alex McDonough (Jessica Biel), and quickly Chuck falls head over heels in love with her. Their lies start to spin out of control as they they become kind of poster boys for gay and Chuck starts to doubt keeping up the truth, but because of the love he has for Larry, he continues to do it anyway. They are ostracized by their fellow firefighters, friends and Larry is thrown off of scouting trips and little league. Oh and it is possible that Larry's son is gay (although only 11 years old).
This is supposed to be a comedy of the make-you-laugh-out-loud type, but I think I chuckled a total of 6 times and 4 of those happened at a running gag that for some reason I think is very funny. The gay jokes are old and stale (Boy George records,really?) and the stereotypes painfully unfunny, especially Ving Rhames showing up as a tough crazy big black guy, who is hiding his gayness until Chuck and Larry come out. Then, when Rhames comes out he turns out to be a total queen, with limp wrists, a lisp and singing "I'm every Woman" in the shower. Alex's brother is also gay and possibly every gay stereotype rolled into one person played by new Sandler regular Nick Swardson. If the movie is not offensive to gay people, it is offensive to the genre of comedy. We get the usual Sandler staples- Rob Schneider, David Spade and his other unfunny cronies- all stopping in for excruciatingly awful bits. Schneider as an offensive wannabe Asian and Spade as a gay guy who looks like a hot chick from behind. I cannot think of an original idea in this movie and even the very core of Sandler's character is hard to believe because we have to buy that every woman alive wants to sleep with him and that he is smooth enough to get twin sisters to make out, tongue and all.
That doesn't mean nothing in the movie works because there are some things that work. Steve Buscemi in his obligatory Sandler cameo shines as the government official trying to get to the bottom of the case (he has a fanny pack too!). Dan Ackroyd as the fire captain gave me the two chuckles not related to the running gag. But most of all Kevin James really shines as the heart of the movie. His portrayal of Larry is a touching and kind especially when remembering his deceased wife. The few serious moments int he movie work because of him and the end of the film works because you do believe he and Sandler as best friends. In an attempt to kind of apologize for every gay stereotype in this thing, it hits us very hard over the head about tolerance. And as a message film it almost works. If the rest of the movie hadn't been so damned fraught with bad gay jokes, the kind of over the top preachiness might have sounded a bit sincere. It is like anytime someone starts off a sentence with "No offense but", saying that doesn't not make up for whatever offensive thing you are about to say. I am not a hyper sensitive guy and I find stereotypes to be amusing in doses, but this movie just elevates it to a level that renders every single homophobic gay joke seriously unfunny. Chuck starts the movie as a guy who is not afraid to throw around the word faggot, but by the end he understands what it feels like to be a gay person and has seen the error of his former ways. Also, Jessica Biel is just as hot as advertised, even if most of her scenes are coated in a nice thin layer of misogyny.
I still believe the premise of this movie could lend itself to both a great comedy and a touching drama, but I think it needs to be tackled by people who actually care about the subject or at least by people who understand what is funny. I can't imagine Sandler's usual fans are going to fall in love with the movie because it does have a lot of gay in it, even if it is wrapped in a heavy coating of blatant homophobia, so this could be Sandler's first comedic mainstream dud, which would make me very happy! I hope Kevin James can find better material than this and that this bad movie will not be a deterrent for someone better tackling this subject because it is a hot button issue and could be turned into a great film.
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