Remember Gentleman's Agreement?

It's purpose was to show how awful anti-semitism is.

The real message the film sends, however, is that it's perfectly fine to be Jewish...for as long as you turn out to be not Jewish after all! What a relief! It's so sad...

if ur talkin to me no i dont remember that. I think that might be before my time.

I was talking in general, lol.

And yeah, it was a 1947 release. A classic, I guess...

B-. Considering that I found director Dennis Dugan's Happy Gilmore (A) and Big Daddy (A-) to be my two favorite Adam Sandler films, and his The Benchwarmers (A-) was last year's funniest laugh-a-second riot; this film was very disappointing in terms of the mildness of its humor. But it was still always entertaining and the dramatic moments were kinda not bad.

B

Deserves some credit. I'm glad I was wrong about this.

Definitely not as bad as the reviews. I mean, the whole set-up between Sandler and Biel are rediculous, Buscemi and Akroyd, two actors I LOVE, were so unfunny it was painful, and the whole trial thing while touching, really brought the whole thing to such a high degree of implausibility it was hard to concentrate on the characters. A simpler, less-Sandler-esque approach could've made this a really good movie, switch the Sandler-Biel match-up to James-Biel, either that, or I think the two really should have ended up gay. I think this would've meant big box office returns if they went this route, plus it really would have just been a cool ending. I laughed a lot more than I expected, and the emotional scenes were decent enough to bare. I didn't hate Sandler's New York accent, BUT his continuous jokes about Jame's dead wife JUST.WEREN'T. FUNNY. That wasn't sick funny, it was just sick. And my audience agreed. James easily steals the show, as does Biel's butterfly brother.

B-

And thankfully it wasn't TOO preachy, because really, they shit on homosexuals the whole movie leading up to the last 5 minutes and a couple of scenes where they didn't like being called faggots. I mean they threw every single sterotype on the screen, and I didn't see one single gay character in the movie who did not fit one 'gay' stereotype portrayed in our world today. Not ONE normal gay person. (normal meaning aside from people trying to be really feminine, being good dancers, talking funny, smiling and winking at every guy they meet, being really energetic, talking about anal sex, etc.) I don't have a problem with them portraying gays like this A. because it's Sandler, free pass and B. because I'm not homosexual; but please, PLEASE don't cram a nice little message about gays down my throat (no pun intended) just so you can go to sleep at night when you think about how you made this movie, Sandler and co. I think that's the main reason this got bashed so badly.

idk frenchie, i didn't think they shat on homosexuals at all. i actually think they painted homosexuals in a very positive light throughout the movie. the scene where Beil's character was telling them about the fraud case in Colorado, the scene in the taxi, the scene outside the club, the scene where Larry is telling his team when Chuck was always there for them and they also tell the audience 'twice' not to call homosexual men faggots. also the fact that Beil's character is not embarrassed at all by her brothers 'gayness' which i thought was kind of positive. yes they do pull out every stereotype about gays and some of the language was quite offensive earlier on but it was more or less to set the characters up. i didn't think it was massively preachy either. it all comes down to respect. i sat behind two gay guys, and i'm pretty sure they weren't offended at all.

i actually found the film more offensive towards fat and asian people than gays.

oh and the dead wife jokes were disgusting.

I saw the film again on Sunday, and my opinion has come down a little bit on it. It's nowhere near as being funny the second time around and for a film that preaches acceptance, (Like getluv said) the inclusion of the massive fat guy caught in the fire and Rob Scheinder's impersonation of an Asian man, are unbelieveably out of place. And like getluv said, the dead wife jokes do not work at all. For a film that's trying to make us sympathetic with Chuck, this only makes it harder for us to do so.

And seeing the film for a second time only enhances my original feelings about the film in terms of how they handled Kevin James' character. The film at it's "heart" is about him. He is the central focus of the story. Then all of sudden, once Biel comes into play, it all of a sudden shifts into an Adam Sandler film. A good chunk of the time it works for him. Here it doesn't. I think the film would've been much more interesting if James' had been the one going after Biel, since he's the one who has to deal with losing his wife and taking care of his children. Instead the film becomes about Chuck's womanizing ways coming to an end once he realizes he's a jerk because of the marriage. It doesn't really work. I think it could've worked if the first half wasn't so much about James' character, but it doesn't, and the central character becomes second fiddle. As a matter of fact, the very end of the film doesn't even have a scene with James talking. It's just a shot of him talking to someone with Chuck saying, "It looks like he's moving on". The hell?

That aside though, I remember arguing before came out that Sandler still had a place in comedy alongside the likes of Apatow and company. After seeing this a second time, I'm not sure if I feel that way anymore. I think the only way Sandler can keep up with these films is if he drops the slapstick act immediately. And I guess by that, I mean, he has to drop what feels most comfortable to him. I don't see him doing that anytime soon, but he's 40 now (41 on the 9th). How much longer can he play the sympathetic idiot? I also think this means (And I know he'll never do this) is that he has to drop pretty much everyone he's ever worked with. Schneider and the supporting cast he keeps including in every film of is, has to go. I like Schneider and I think he can be funny. He just hasn't been for about 5 years now. The same thing goes for the director's he works with. Frank Coraci and Dennis Dugan work best with dumb Sandler (The Waterboy, Happy Gilmore). Since Sandler can't really play those parts anymore, he needs to drop them.

I guess he is taking a step in the right direction by teaming up with Judd Apatow on You Don't Mess with the Zohan (They wrote it together), but Dugan is directing and Schneider is co-starring. He needs something new though. I'm not talking about Reign Over Me kind of new, but I think it would be best if he and Apatow started writing more.

C+

I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK & LARRY (2007)


Don’t be fooled by the name Alexander Payne (Election, About Schmidt, Sideways) being attached to this movie, as most of what you will see is not the movie he had in mind when he wrote the initial draft of the screenplay. According to Payne, Sandler took many liberties with his screenplay and “Sandlerized” the movie. Payne eventually didn’t even want his name attached to this project. I can’t say I blame him at all. Payne would never be responsible for this drivel. How unfortunate that what was probably a really good script with the potential to be a really good movie with a good message ended up as this. The movie is the equivalent of a backstabber, or maybe someone with a multiple personality disorder. One minute it’s being disgustingly crass and offensive to the gay community, and the next it’s unconvincingly preaching that homophobia is bad. Who knows where the movie actually stands on the issue. It tries to make you think it’s pro-gay but I’m not sure I buy it. It’s almost as if the creators of the movie have never met a gay person. There is not a single gay character in this movie that really rings true. They’re over-the-top caricatures; either overly feminine or slightly creepy, or both. There’s not a single character in this movie that acts like your average joe who just happens to be gay.

I’ve never had a problem with Adam Sandler. But after this I find it really hard to have any respect for him. Every idiotic joke made me like him less. And it’s not just jabs at gay people. There’s an offensive scene in the beginning where they rescue a severely overweight guy from a burning building that has to be seen to be believed. It’s just really uncalled for and in extremely poor taste. Nothing about this is funny. The only people who will find it to be so are ones with an utterly juvenile sense of humor. There’s also Rob Schneider’s offensive portrayal of Asians. Honestly, this is one of the most mean-spirited mainstream comedies of the year and the more I think about it, the more I dislike it. There were a few laughs to be had, but mostly it just made me mad by its annoying insensitivity.

While this was in theaters I was talking to someone who said they’d went to see this, and they said that it gives you something to think about. I found this kind of funny, especially now after seeing it. How could anyone take anything away from this movie? I had thought maybe in its own way it would do some good by opening the minds of Sandler fans with its dumbed down message about tolerance, but that was before seeing it. Now I can’t imagine it doing much to further acceptance. It’s not the worst thing for the gay community, but it’s just too two-faced to be something positive. Thank you Adam Sandler for turning the serious issue of gay rights into a movie filled with fart and boobie jokes. Not to mention the several uses of the “F” word used throughout. And of course, for some odd reason, Chuck and Larry are treated as heroes for pretending to be gay in order to scam the system, making a mockery out of homosexuals in the process. And their support comes from the gay community no less. How unrealistic is that? I can’t imagine homosexuals would be so supportive if something like this really happened. I guess it’s just trying to fool itself into believing that, as a movie, it’s doing us a favor and is a friend to the gay community. Well, some friend. It’s certainly one we can do without.

Grade: 5/10 (C-)

Mike, i think u over analyzed the movie a bit too much. it wasn't that bad.

Completely wasted potential. I know there was a very hidden undercurrent of brilliance, but then the project was Sandler-ized and lost it all. There wasn't nearly as much humor as there should have been. James was on fire and was ignored. Sandler was pretty dead and he gets the focus. For shame.

C

B-


I'd say it is worse than Sandler's recent films (The Longest Yard, 50 First Dates), but not by much. It's pretty much his generic stuff and at least I still think it's better than some of his big earlier works (The Waterboy and Big Daddy - which are ridiculously popular for whatever reason). However, it's really hard to believe that is was written, or even co-written by freakin' Alexander Payne! Because for that, the screenplay is fairly bad and doesn't use to movie's comedic potential to the fullest at all. Sandler is fairly bland here and so is James, apartt from a couple of decent scenes. Rob Schneider is terrible, as he usually is, but the cameos this film has are pretty good. I liked Dan Akroyd's short appearance a lot, but I think the best would still be Ving Rhames (though do we really need to see an extreme close-up of his ass?). An unexpected funny turn by him here. Jessica Biel is only here to show off the goodies (and since that is what she was hired for, she certainly deserved the paycheck!). The romance between her and Sandler is absolutely unbelievable.

Despite my rather harsh criticisms, I mostly enjoyed myself during the flick and it did have some really good laughs, even though a couple of scenes were really too stereotypic and it even seemed as if the film didn't know what route to take in dealing with its subject matter, thus eeeming a bit uncomfortable at times.