Comedian Chris Rock makes a comedy inspired by the 1972 French comedy Chloe in the Afternoon (yes, you read that right). I don’t know about the French original but this version is not really that funny.
Rock plays an investment banker named Richard whose marriage has grown routine, at least to him anyway. He’s been married to his wife Brenda (Gina Torres) long enough that they’ve stopped having sex. He has a nice house and two cute kids but he also has a roving eye since he’s not getting any bedroom action.
Into his fantasyland steps Nikki (Kerry Washington), the ex-girlfriend of an old buddy of Richards. Nikki starts spending a lot of time at Richard’s office, but Richard is pretty oblivious to how bad it looks that he’s hanging out with Nikki all the time. It starts to affect his job performance and his boss (Edward Herrmann) puts him on probation. So now Richard has to decide whether he wants his home life or to make the rumor of his infidelity a reality.
I guess some of this stuff is funny, but a lot of the gags and jokes are well worn and you really expect better from a film that Rock is writing, directing, and producing. Kerry Washington is a looker and you can see why Richard is torn, but you also think that his wife could’ve solved all his problems by listening to his desires and warming up the bedroom. There’s a “musical” solution to their problems that I thought was really lame.
I Think I Love My Wife is presented in a dual sided release that has a fullscreen version on one side and an anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 televisions on the other side.
Both sides contain a commentary by director/writer/producer/star Chris Rock. The widescreen side has the 10 minute “I do Love Making this Movie” making of which interviews Rock, screenwriter Louis C.K., Kerry Washington, Gina Torres, and producer Lisa Stewart.
The fullscreen side has 10 minutes of deleted and alternate scenes, 2 minutes of bloopers, and the 9 minute “Fox Movie Channel Presents: Casting Session” which adds interview footage with casting director Vicki Thomas.
The film is well made but it is still lacks the comedy that would’ve made it memorable. It’s sad to see Rock devote his skills to a film that is only about half-funny.
I Think I Love My Wife is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD Database for more information.
Your Talkback on this Story