Gays unbent

>> I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
is a feature-length frat-boy joke

by MATTHEW HAYS

I still recall quite vividly the furore that surrounded Alan Parker’s Hollywood-ized 1988 version of the black civil rights struggle, Mississippi Burning. How, the director was asked, could a fight that was won almost completely on the backs of black people have a story told through two white men?

Parker’s rebuttal was stunning. “The two heroes in the story had to be white,” he told Time magazine. “At this point in time, it could not have been told in any other way.”

Almost 20 years later, we witness an entirely different film, but one with a similar cynicism. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry is the frat-boy flick made, quite intentionally, for all those fellas who couldn’t stomach Brokeback Mountain. The film is clearly based on the idea that mainstream audiences are not capable of identifying with gay protagonists. The answer? Take two decidedly het characters (Adam Sandler and Kevin James) and, through some cosmic screwing, have them fake being a gay couple to pocket the domestic-partner benefits. In essence, it’s a pilfering of the Tootsie idea; in that excellent comedy, Dustin Hoffman learned about the indignities women had to face by becoming one. In this terrible comedy, Sandler and James learn about being gay.

Certainly, as a public service announcement, INPYCAL is laudable. There are two rather impressive moments, when Sandler learns what it’s like to be harassed by obnoxious religious conservatives, and when he argues people should not be called “faggots.” That, he says, is “just like someone calling me kike.”

But as a film, INPYCAL is unwatchable. Every obvious homo gag imaginable is trotted out, so much so that I was shocked to see Alexander Payne (Election, About Schmidt) credited as a co-screenwriter.

The cameos are telling; Richard Chamberlain appears, a man who everyone in Hollywood knew was gay for decades, but who remained in the closet until very recently to protect his career. Even Brokeback indicates how far we have to go; both leads in that film went out of their way to assert their off-screen het status at every possible turn, knowing even the hint of such an admission would jeopardize their career.

I guess there’s progress somewhere in all this. Why doesn’t it feel so good?

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and
Larry is now playing in theatres

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