by Brett Parker
I Think I Love My Wife is a solid confirmation of a persistent fact: Chris Rock is not a natural leading man. With Down to Earth, Bad Company, and Head of State, Rock has shown a difficult time establishing a strong screen prescience. I Think I Love My Wife was perhaps a great opportunity for Rock to put forth a mature, thoughtful performance, but alas he has a difficult time handling the nuances of his role and the film suffers because of it.
The film centers on Richard Cooper (Rock), a married businessman who appears to have a picture-perfect suburban life: a beautiful wife, wonderful kids, and a good job. Yet, as Richard describes in voice-over narration, he’s “bored out of his fuckin’ mind!” After several years of marriage, Richard is beginning to feel bored and trapped. The main problem is that Richard’s wife, Brenda (Gina Torres), pretty much refuses to have sex with him. With every attempt Richard makes, Brenda refuses him with such humorously sad excuses as “my face hurts” or “it’s not your birthday.” Then one day, Richard runs into Nikki (Kerry Washington), a former girlfriend of Richard’s college buddy. Nikki is one of those sexed-up bad girls who would be at home in a rap video. Her steamy good looks instantly grab the interest of Richard, who begins to entertain the idea of having sex with her. This leads to casual lunch dates with Nikki that throw Richard into a psychological stir as to whether to stay faithful to a non-sexual wife or have an unforgettable fling with a beautiful woman.
I Think I Love My Wife may be a remake of the French film Chloe in the Afternoon, yet the film I was comparing it to in the back of my mind was Boomerang with Eddie Murphy. That too was a film co-written and produced by a stand-up comedian that observed the complexities of adult relationships. Boomerang is one of the great relationship movies from the male perspective because it is filled with honesty, sincerity, and intelligent laughs. It treated its characters with affection and the audience could strongly relate to their feelings and situations. Those are the exact qualities that are difficult to find in Rock’s film. The characters feel more like sitcom caricatures than actual people and certain situations, such as an unnecessary Viagra scene, are so over the top and unfunny that it does serious damage to the tone of the film. Part of the problem is that the film awkwardly tries to cover too many aspects of relationships with little grace or wisdom. It’s a meditation on marital stress, a cautionary tale about dating promiscuous women, and a look at how middle-aged, married men would embrace a bachelor lifestyle if given another opportunity. These plotlines are woven together with little intelligence and even fewer laughs.
I mentioned Eddie Murphy earlier. Compare his film career to Chris Rock’s and see what Rock is lacking. Murphy was a knockout of a comedian, but he was also able to translate his talents to the big screen with grace and charisma. He brought conviction and life to all of his roles and was able to convey emotions like a disciplined actor. Rock is also a talented comedian, yet he lacks the ability to bring distinct film characters into any sort of third dimension. If you were to line all of Eddie Murphy’s characters up together, you would find significant differences between them. If you were to line up all of Rock’s, you would find that they are all the same, one-note personality. Rock has difficulty in expressing complex emotions, something that is seriously required if audiences are to identify with the Richard character.
Despite its weaknesses, there are moments in the film that are really good. Some of Rock’s observations on marriage do ring funny and true, such as hanging out with other married couples and being sentenced to a mini-van. I liked a scene with Nikki’s psycho ex-boyfriend and a reoccurring conversation about Michael Jackson. The film’s best line comes from Richard’s boss (Edward Herrmann) who tells him “you can lose a lot of money chasing women, yet you can’t lose women chasing money.” Unfortunately all of these good scenes don’t build momentum towards an engaging film. More realism and maturity is needed for that. Rock had some really good ideas when he decided to co-write and direct this film, but Woody Allen he is not.
I Think I Love My Wife was released on DVD August 7th
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