WRESTLING WITH RESTLESS-HUSBAND SYNDROME.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic East Coast businessman Richard Cooper Richard Cooper may refer to:
v. a·dored, a·dor·ing, a·dores v.tr. 1. To worship as God or a god. 2. To regard with deep, often rapturous love. See Synonyms at revere1. 3. wife, two great kids. "It's the perfect life," Cooper says in the opening voice-over of "I Think I Love My Wife." Pause. "And I'm bored out of my (bleeping bleep n. A brief high-pitched sound, as from an electronic device. v. bleeped, bleep·ing, bleeps v.intr. To emit a bleep or bleeps. v.tr. ) mind." The uncertainty in the title of this new Chris Rock comedy hints at the ambivalence that Rock - who also directed and co-wrote the movie - aims to capture with the film, an is-this-all-there-is feeling that most settled suburbanites experience at one point or another in their lives and marriages. That sort of unspoken unease is at the heart of Rock's movie, a loose remake re·make tr.v. re·made , re·mak·ing, re·makes To make again or anew. n. 1. The act of remaking. 2. Something in remade form, especially a new version of an earlier movie or song. of French filmmaker Eric Rohmer's 1972 minor-key classic "Chloe in the Afternoon." Rock and writing partner Louis C.K. want to dabble dab·ble v. dab·bled, dab·bling, dab·bles v.tr. To splash or spatter with or as if with a liquid: "The moon hung over the harbor dabbling the waves with gold" in psychology and deliver plenty of broad humor humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined man's health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) resulted in pain and disease, and that good health was (think Viagra jokes), too, which would be fine if the film went beyond the expected in either area. One problem is that Rock the filmmaker has stuck Rock the actor with a largely reactive role that plays against the comedian's in-your-face strengths. It's no coincidence that the strongest moments in the movie come when Rock's character unleashes his married-man frustrations. The best joke has Richard - who hasn't had sex with his wife in a really long time - being driven to distraction by the cleavage cleavage, tendency of many minerals to split along definite smooth planar surfaces determined by their crystal structure. The directions of these surfaces are related to weaknesses in the atomic structure of the mineral and are always parallel to a possible crystal of a waitress. "How can my wife not have sex with me and then send me into a world with so many beautiful women?" Richard wonders. Trouble comes when one particular woman, Nikki (a sultry sul·try adj. sul·tri·er, sul·tri·est 1. a. Very humid and hot: sultry July weather. b. Extremely hot; torrid: the sultry sands of the desert. Kerry Washington), the ex-girlfriend of an old pal, begins pop-in visits to Richard's Manhattan office, resulting in long lunches (where she questions his happiness 7/8 "you're not in love, you're in loyal") and increasingly unexplained absences from home, which raises the suspicions of Richard's long-suffering wife (Gina Torres). Will Richard eventually succumb suc·cumb intr.v. suc·cumbed, suc·cumb·ing, suc·cumbs 1. To submit to an overpowering force or yield to an overwhelming desire; give up or give in. See Synonyms at yield. 2. To die. to Nikki's charms? It takes a long time to find out, and it's a patience-wearing exercise because Rock's character is such a flat creation. Rock does borrow one of Rohmer's great visuals, neatly cutting to the heart of Richard's dilemma. Do you jeopardize the "perfect" life for a roll in the sack? "I Think I Love My Wife" answers the question with a measure of finesse, but not exactly in a way that's going to relieve the tedium middle-age moviegoers might themselves be feeling. Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672 glenn.whipp@dailynews.com I THINK I LOVE MY WIFE - Two and one half stars (R: language, sexual content) Starring: Chris Rock, Kerry Washington, Gina Torres. Director: Chris Rock. Running time: 1 hr. 34 min. Playing: In wide release. In a nutshell: Rock plays a married man who's tempted to stray in this comedy that comes up a bit short. |
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