Rock’s film, “I Think I Love My Wife,” is kind of a modern fable about fidelity, and it’s relationship to the typical middle-aged man. The average Joe in this film is one Richard Cooper (Rock), a straight-laced Manhattan investment banker with a wonderful wife named Brenda (Gina Torres) and two great kids. Richard is also incredibly bored with his life- between work and home, everything is dictated by routine. They have the same dinners week in and week out. Richard takes lunch at two every day to avoid the rush. Saturdays are spent shopping in the city, and sex is practically a non-issue.
Into Richard’s malaise walks Nikki Tru (Kerry Washington), an old acquaintance who he lusted after in college. Nikki is sexy, flirty, and mysterious- in other words, she’s the kind of woman who is dangerous for a guy to meet when he’s feeling bored in his marriage. Soon Nikki and Richard are spending long afternoons together- she lavishes her attention on him, filling his life with unpredictable fun and excitement. In return he spends his time and resources (in one scene she literally throws his money out a window) to help her and keep her entertained.
However, as Richard delves deeper into his relationship with Nikki (there’s no sex, but I’d classify it as an affair) the other aspects of his life suffer. And, at a certain point he must make a choice between giving in to his desire for Nikki, and his responsibilities at home and work. I don’t want to spoil the ending for anyone, but if you’ve seen any film even remotely like this one, you’ve probably got an idea of where Richard will end up.
That’s probably the biggest flaw of the film- while it may seem like a novel choice for “outrageous standup comic Chris Rock” to be this guy in this film, the character and situation have been played out in so many films, books, and TV shows that it takes something truly unique to make one story stand out from another. Simply grafting Chris Rock attitude onto the storyline of a French drama (“Chloe in the Afternoon”) isn’t enough of a switch. As it stands, these themes have been dealt more successfully in other ways- I can think of at least three “Simpsons” episodes that have covered similar ground with more satisfying results.
Perhaps if Rock and co-writer Louis C. K. had taken a different approach this may have been a more solid effort. For example, if Rock really wanted to take a risk with this role, he might’ve tried for straight drama, and not fallen back on his comedy roots. Or maybe he could’ve gone completely the opposite direction and shot for a farce.
Instead we have a film that nails “feel-good romantic comedy” level fun: amusing, but ultimately forgettable. It gets an A for effort, but a D for originality.
Powered by AkoComment 2.0!
Entertainment
Art
