I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007)

Two straight, single Brooklyn firefighters pretend to be a gay couple in order to receive domestic partner benefits.

Director:

Dennis Dugan

Writers:

Barry Fanaro (screenplay), Alexander Payne (screenplay),

Stars:

Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Jessica Biel

14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adam Sandler	...	Chuck Levine
Kevin James	...	Larry Valentine
Jessica Biel	...	Alex McDonough
Dan Aykroyd	...	Captain Tucker
Ving Rhames	...	Fred G. Duncan
Steve Buscemi	...	Clint Fitzer
Nicholas Turturro	...	Renaldo Pinera
Allen Covert	...	Steve
Rachel Dratch	...	Benefits Supervisor Sara Powers
Richard Chamberlain	...	Councilman Banks
Nick Swardson	...	Kevin McDonough
Blake Clark	...	Crazy Homeless Man
Mary Pat Gleason	...	Teresa
Matt Winston	...	Glen Aldrich
Lance Bass	...	Band Leader

Storyline

Chuck Levine and Larry Valentine are friends and Brooklyn firefighting partners. Widower Larry, who still mourns the death of his wife Paula, is having problems changing the beneficiary on his insurance policy from Paula's name to his children's. He is worried about his children's future if he were to be killed in the line of duty, and is contemplating quitting his job for something less risky, but he also does not want to forfeit his firefighter's pension as he also see it as a safety net for his children. Larry saves Chuck's life on one of their calls. So when Chuck tells Larry that he owes him one, Larry takes him up on his offer. Larry's favor: despite both being heterosexual, that they enter into a domestic partnership, in name and paper only, to provide that much needed protection for Larry's children. Chronic womanizer Chuck reluctantly but eventually agrees. The one person who knows for a certainty that they are both straight is their boss, Captain Phineas J. Tucker. Their ...

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Plot Keywords:

children | firefighter | fraud | gay | insurance | 

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Taglines:

Chuck has just found the perfect girl. Too bad he's agreed to marry his best friend.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for crude sexual content throughout, nudity, language and drug references

Details

Official Sites:

Paramount [France] Universal [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 July 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Yo los declaro marido y... Larry

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$85,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,090,831 (UK) (21 September 2007)

Gross:

£3,752,731 (UK) (12 October 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Relativity Media, Happy Madison Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Chuck confuses David Spade for Jessica Biel in the playboy bunny outfit, in the shot from behind it's actually Biel herself in the outfit.

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Goofs

In the cab in Canada, as Chuck and Larry are fighting with the cab driver, you can see that the gear shifter is in the park position as they are supposedly moving in the car.

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Quotes

Captain Phineas J. Tucker: If these two men are gay then I'm a one-legged parrot. Anybody see me with a crutch and a cracker?

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Connections

Features Rabbit Fire (1951)

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Soundtracks

"Shamrocks and Shenanigans (Boom Shalock Lock Boom)"
Written by Erik Schrody, Leor Dimant, Danny Boy (as Danny O'Conner)
Performed by House of Pain
Courtesy of Tommy Boy Music
By Arrangement with Warner Music Group & TV Licensing

User Reviews

Another instance of critics missing the point

Gay jokes have always been staple of Adam Sandler comedies. It goes with Sandler's juvenile, boyish sense of humor. As far back as his "Saturday Night Live" days, Sandler has been serving up gay jokes left and right. It was only a matter of time until Sandler decided to extend his love of gay humor to feature length. What's surprising is how well I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry actually works. I've often said the best movies are the ones that have a point for existence. When millions are being spent, there should be a reason. Most of Sandler's pictures have had a message, however small they be. Billy Madison made it clear to its young audience to stay in school. Click made it painfully obvious that family is important. Now 'Chuck and Larry' comes with a message about tolerance and acceptance. I wasn't going to write a comment about 'Chuck and Larry', but after reading the critics' extremely venomous reaction to the flick, I think that they miss the point. Many have labeled it hypocritical for wanting to laugh at gays while standing up for them. Honestly I think the critics who say that had their minds made up about the film before they viewed it. The characters making homophobic remarks and jokes are seen as ignorant and unaware. True, there are stereotypes present, though most of them are stereotypes that the characters believe to be true. I found Brokeback Mountain to have just as many if not more stereotypes than are present here yet that was intended to be a serious drama.

80% of the jokes in 'Chuck & Larry' work the ones that don't are simply due to pacing. There's about ten more minutes of fat that could have been sucked out of the running time. Luckily, it's nowhere as dreadfully long as the Knocked Up was. However, I do wish that the film shared Knocked Up's R-rating (trims were made to make this a PG-13). There are times when the editing is extremely obvious and distracting, which took me out of the scene at times. Here's hoping for the original cut to be released on DVD. Somehow I doubt that it will. As satisfying as 'Chuck & Larry' is, seeing it as intended would be more fulfilling.

7/10