I Think I Hate This Film
(Review of I Think I Love My Wife)
I’m a Chris Rock fan. I believe that he is so comically talented that he could make me laugh during a tax-audit, appendectomy, or even a hostage crisis. Not only is he funny, but I can relate to most of his stand-up material, be it social-satire, romantic relationships, or general storytelling. He’s simply a comedic genius.
That’s why it’s so hard to write a review on his most-recent effort, a film directed, co-written by, and staring Chris Rock called I Think I Love My Wife. I had such high hopes for this movie, but never have I ever left a romantic comedy feeling bewildered, confused, and somewhat depressed until now.
I Think I Love My Wife is a remake of the 1972 French film, Love in the Afternoon by Éric Rohmer. The main character, Richard Cooper (Rock), has become bored with his marriage, and has developed a serious case of the wandering eye. Matters are further complicated when Nikki Tru (Kerry Washington), an old friend he had a crush on shows up at his office out of the blue. Nikki’s subsequent appearances and interaction with Richard tempts and seduces him into doing some incredibly dumb things, and strains his marriage with Brenda (Gina Torres) to the breaking point. That’s pretty much it. Add paprika, chili powder, and some well-placed panty-clad scenes of the obscenely-attractive Kerry Washington, stir it up, and we’ve got blockbuster gumbo, right?
So what went wrong? Well, I’ve never seen the French film that inspired this one, but I Think I Love My Wife seems to suffer from an identity crisis. It would lurch into the direction of light comedy for five to ten minutes before veering-off into heavy drama-land for another thirty minutes. This imbalance proved to be the film’s undoing. The movie immediately grabbed my attention, but it didn’t seem to know where to go from there. It had several choke-on-drink-while-laughing-out-loud moments, but some of those moments left me feeling awkward, especially after a particularly heavy dramatic moment had passed.
Full-disclosure: I watched this film with Bookie after bickering with her over various absurd things throughout the day. Each time Richard stressed-out poor Brenda, or did some other dumb thing that husbands aren’t supposed to do, Bookie smacked her lips and glared at me as if to say, “I promise, if you ever try that crap with me, no one will ever find your body.” It’s entirely possible that my review is slightly less than objective, but even so, I Think I Love My Wife falls well-short of my expectations.
1)Story: C
2)Acting: B
3)Visuals: B
4)Originality/Innovation: C
5)Enjoyability Grade: D
6)Date Material: D
7)Contemporary Element (Will it be watchable two decades from now?): D
8)Overall Grade: D+
***
Blind Eye Turning: Poems, Prose, and other Scribbles, by Barry Dawson
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