I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

Adam Sandler certainly knows what his fans like. In the last ten years, he has had comedy hit after hit after hit with films like "Click, "The Longest Yard" and "The Waterboy." Most of them breaking through that magic Hollywood gross of 100 million dollars. And when Sandler veers off of his comedy course ("Punch Drunk Love," "Reign Over Me," "Spanglish"), his audience is quick to trumpet their disappointment. Well, Adam Sandler fans can rejoice because this time around Opera Boy plays it for laughs with "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry."

'Chuck and Larry' teams Sandler (Chuck) with "King of Queens" star Kevin James (Larry) in a story about two heterosexual firemen posing as a homosexual couple to take advantage of domestic partnership benefits. James' character is a widower whose city-provided benefits have been terminated, so he turns to his best friend Chuck who "owes him one."

Things get complicated when a city investigator, played by Steve Buscemi, comes nosing around to find out if the two hosers are the real deal or if they're just playing house to scam the city. Jessica Biel is the super-attractive attorney who buys Sandler and James' cock-and-bull story and represents the couple.

You can probably guess for yourself that Sandler falls for the girl and finds himself in the position of not being able to make a move on her for fear of outing himself as a straight guy. (Think Dustin Hoffman's Tootsie when he goes gaga for Jessica Lange.)

And of course, as this is a Sandler comedy, a handful of Saturday Night Live alumni make their way onto the screen in a string of cameo roles. Another scene features a quick shot with a famous gay celeb, though I won't say who, so as not to spoil the surprise. (I'll narrow it down for you by one though. The Jim J. Bullock fan club need not rush to the theater to get a ticket. Hope that helps.) Dan Aykroyd has a supporting turn as the fire chief dealing with a rift between stereotypically straight ("I ain't workin' with no fags") firemen, and the newly-outed Chuck and Larry.

"I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" is not without a measure of controversy. Some in the gay community have found the film offensive and complain that the movie fuels very old stereotypes. In both cases, I think that the nay-sayers have a point. Some of the dialogue did cause me to cringe, but its all mostly said by straight-characters who are portrayed not just as homophobic, but as archaic...and I think that's one of the points of the movie...if you want to say that there's a point to an Adam Sandler movie. And the movie does play on stereotypes, but of both gays and straights.

The screenplay was co-written by Alexander Payne in his first full-length feature project since 2004's Academy-Award winning "Sideways." I don't see Chuck and Larry doing much come Oscar-time, and GLAAD probably won't be giving it many trophys either, but Sandler fans will be throwing down their bucks at the box office.

I was able to set aside my negative thoughts about some of the coarse-talk in the movie and enjoy the expected sophomoric antics here. So, if you like Adam Sandler, you may want to give 'Chuck and Larry' a shot. To be honest though, I felt like I had to do too much "setting aside" to make this a film that I would recommend....especially in a summer with so much else out there.