I suppose this could be called the Brokeback Mountain for the Adam Sandler crowd and the film advances its “bias is bad” message with all the energetic crassness that has made Sandler the most bizarrely bankable star. The peculiar thing is that I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry with its limited and primitive weaponry of toilet humour and gay-cliche jokes is probably as effective in delivering its message to its audience as Brokeback Mountain was to its own. Yes, this is still an Adam Sandler comedy boasting the elegance of a three-legged hippo doing ballet, but its third-act blatant speechmaking would be the most lucid strategy for the crowd that screams in delight at the “dropped soap in the shower” routine.
The most interesting thing this movie does is that while staying within the constraints of broad comedy, it subverts the typical gambit of any other “serious” gay film. Instead of seeing the anguish of a homosexual feigning happiness in a straight marriage (think The Hours, or Normal), we see two straight men feigning a gay partnership and being subjected to preconceived wariness and bigotry from others and choking on the bitter taste of living on false pretences. The icing on the cake is the fact that said straight men come from a bastion of heroic manliness – the New York fire fighting service.
The set up is as contrived as they come, but this is part of the joke Sandler and collaborators are playing on their audience. Larry (Kevin James) is a widower who is worried that bureaucratic red tape would prevent his kids from receiving any insurance money should anything bad happen to him. The solution is to feign a domestic partnership with co-worker Chuck (Sandler) who owes him a favour. The fact that a grieving husband and loving father would plunge into a gay relationship and announce it to the world is as blatantly suspicious to a zealous fraud investigator (Steve Buscemi) as it is to the audience, and the former is determined to expose the fraudulent duo for what they are. Luckily, Chuck and Larry are being advised by a hot shot attorney named Alex (Jessica Biel) who admires their bravery and is oblivious to their scheme.
Chuck, however, is not oblivious to her charm and is aching because he has to contend himself with their “sisterly” bonding even if it afford him the chance to feel Alex’s breasts. Of course, everything builds up to a big owning up and a big speech amidst touches of thematic casting and as assortment of cameos, which range from inspired (Richard Chamberlain) to downright embarrassing (Rob Schneider).
The runtime of the movie is filled with standard knee-jerk low-brow comedy and gay jokes by director Dennis Dugan (Big Daddy, Happy Gilmore) for whom understatement and elegance are dirty words, yet they are bizarrely redeemed by the recoil of the bias is bad ending that would probably get the Sandler fan base by surprise. Still, for people not falling into this category, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry is of purely academic interest. The movie is still more likely to offend you than to amuse you, but it will serve well those at whom it is ultimately aimed.
