I THINK I LOVE MY WIFE(Chris Rock). 90 minutes. Opens Friday (March 16). Rating: NN Rating: NN
I suspected it when he hosted the Oscars, and now I know it for sure: Chris Rock has been de-balled.
I mean, his stand-up’s still sharp, but his resumé’s packing more and more kiddie flicks, and now he’s remaking 1972’s Chloe In The Afternoon as an urban romcom?
In I Think I Love My Wife , Rock plays Richard Cooper, a money man leading a Cosbyfied existence with his wife ( Gina Torres ) and two kids when he reconnects with Nikki ( Kerry Washington ), an old friend. She’s sexy, she’s dangerous (she smokes, that’s how you can tell), she’s Trouble with a capital T, and that rhymes with P and that stands for “premise.” As in “that’s a premise, not a plot.” It also stands for “pedestrian,” which is the only word to describe Rock’s direction.
The funny lines (and there are several) are obviously cribbed from either Rock’s or co-writer Louis C.K. ‘s stage patter: “Going to the auto show to look at the mini-van is like going to a strip club to look at the DJ.” Despite being only 90 minutes long, the film drags.
While I’m all for cinema’s alpha males showing that family doesn’t make you less of a man, they’re not going to convince anyone with this snoozefest.
