Merrick here...
...with two reader reviews of I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY, Adam Sandler's response to his angstier role in REIGN OVER ME. (Click on the disturbingly Chinese Rob Schneider to see a trailer...)
The first review comes from Thunder Joe:
Got to see an early screening of the new Adam Sandler movie I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry in Burbank tonight.
Let's get to the important stuff: Jessica Biel. Jessica Biel in bra and panties. For a long time. Wet. Sandler feels her up. For a long time. And then does it again. Oh, she also dances in a skin-tight rubber catwoman costume. Heaven. Sheer cinematic heaven.
The movie's pretty simple and funny as hell. It's not anything too original but it's done with Sandler's usual shuffling charm. If "Bad Sandler" is Little Nicky, Longest Yard and Click and "Good Sandler" is 50 First Dates, Big Daddy and Happy Gilmore, this is definitely the "Good Sandler" variety.
Sandler basically plays another version of the guy he always plays. In this case, he's Chuck, a NY fireman who's incredible with the ladies (whatever, it's his movie, let him have it) and is best friends with his fellow fireman Larry, a widower with two kids. Larry saves Chuck's life at a fire scene, so Chuck promises to pay him back however he wants.
Turns out Larry's life insurance is caught in some sort of red tape and the only way to make sure his kids get the policy is to remarry. So he concocts a scheme to fake a domestic partnership with his pallie Chuck. The city starts sniffing around and the guys seek out a lawyer to help them out, who turns out to be Jessica Biel. Most lawyers look like Jessica Biel, right? She thinks they're a real couple and encourages them to get married to validate their relationship. So they do. Hijinks ensue. Lessons are learned.
A lot of the usuals from the Sandler acting company show up: Rob Schneider in a weird and weirdly funny bit as a Chinese wedding chapel owner. Why? I don't know. David Spade. Steve Buscemi. Small parts by Dan Ackroyd, Ving Rhames, Rachel Dratch, Dave Matthews (I think?), Lance Bass (Yep, I'm gay), and Richard Chamberlain. But the success of the movie rides on Sandler and Kevin James and their chemistry as a, uh, couple. And they've got it. Sandler gets most of the good lines and gives Kevin a hard time about everything: his weight, his dead wife (using an old-woman ghost voice around the house), his effeminate kid. Basically, the two of them act like two life-long blue-collar friends from New York would act and it works. Kevin James is a pretty good actor. I've never watched King of Queens but I thought he was pretty good in Hitch, but he gets a full part to play here, and he's the heart of the movie. I believed him and he and Sandler are a good team.
You can guess where everything winds up, but it's still a funny, enjoyable ride along the way. Seems like the same kind of Sandler comedy that works, and they should probably just back up the Brinks trucks when it comes out this summer.
In short:
INSANELY GREAT: Biel . Not her acting. But her other talents put on full display.
GOOD: It's funny throughout with only a few slow spots. There's an opening scene with a lot of physical humor where the guys have to save an enormously overweight guy who's shut in that keeps upping itself. There's a lot of funny throwaway buddy humor between Sandler and James, and the wedding itself is flat-out hilarious. There's a great sight gag with Spade. The whole "yeah, we're gay" stuff is kind of predictable but funny. Rhames as a homicidal co-worker at the firehouse has a killer scene. Then, when things get a little more serious, it works. Kevin James has a great scene in the firehouse when the other guys turn on Chuck and Larry that exposes the idiotic nature of prejudice. That kind of material doesn't need to be in a movie like this, so good for Sandler for doing something with some topicality to it. Nothing wrong with sneaking in a good moral in a silly comedy.
NOT SO GOOD: There's some clunkers along the way. The character of Jessica Biel's brother is annoying and stupid. There's a weird scene with Kevin James going all Brokeback Mountain that doesn't work. Jessica Biel is too clothed through too much of the movie.
ALL IN ALL: It's all fairly mindless but it delivers on the funny. The audience was having a great time start to finish. It's kind of brave for a movie like this to take on issues like homophobia and domestic partnerships. Chuck and Larry is an easy and agreeable way to spend a couple of hours when it comes out this summer.
Here's another, quicker look at the film saying pretty much the same thing. This one's from Boba Fatt.
Long time lurker and this is the first time I have had anything to contribute.
I am visiting L.A. and had the opportunity to see an early press screening of the new Adam Sandler movie I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry. I must say that I was skeptical going in to the film and one of the suits said it was not quite finished, but looked and sounded quite good.
The story of course is laid out pretty well in the trailer, but the movie is funny. James and Sandler work very well together and build a relationship that you can believe on film. The crowd I saw it with in Burbank loved it and it was good to see Sandler being funny again. Some of the laughs seem forced and there no real barriers being broken in the realm of comedy, but a really funny movie.
Some great cameos and Nick Swardson as usual had me rolling in my seat. Let us not also forget Jessica Biel who is a wonderfully nice piece of eye candy with an extended underwear and catwoman sequence. (THANK YOU!!)
If you use this you can call me Bobba Fatt.
