i now pronounce you chuck and larry
We Now Pronounce That Federal Employees Are Screwed Thanks To ‘Chuck and Larry’
8:40AM Kyle Buchanan | After offending gays, Asians, and audiences with its ignoble release last summer, the Adam Sandler gay marriage vehicle I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry has found itself back in the news this week with equally confounding results. According to the Washington Post (via Videogum), new legislation that could provide employee benefit programs to the partners of gay federal employees is under siege thanks to Office of Personnel Management deputy director Howard C. Weizmann, who cites the Sandler movie as reason enough not to put the plan into action:
Pushy Junket Reporter Ropes Adam Sandler Into The Gay Cause
7:00AM Defamer Hollywood | Mexican audiences will be able to find out what all the bear-on-bear fireman fuss was about, as Los declaro marido y … Larry – aka I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry – is finally getting a release there. (It rolled into Spain a few weeks ago, with the far catchier title Os Declaro Marido Y Marido, and an accompanying feeder-fetish website that hearkens to other classics of the genre.) In Mexico City to promote the opening, Adam Sandler appears to have fallen for the oldest wire reporter trick in the book – answering “Sure, why not?” to a seemingly innocuous but strategically phrased question, then waking up to headlines outlining your passionate commitment to fighting for gay rights: Adam Sandler says he would like to work alongside gay-rights groups after starring in “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.” More »
Rob Schneider Versus Michael Caton
6:25PM Jess McGuire | How quickly things change in Hollywood, eh? One time co-stars in The Animal (and, we presume, friends – in our world, everyone in Hollywood who work together automatically become bosom buddies and/or lovers) Michael Caton and Rob Schneider are in the midst of a very public war of words over comments Caton made about his flick Strange Bedfellows being the inspiration for Schneider chum Adam Sandler’s latest movie I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry.
It appears Schneider, forced to choose between an Antipodean ex-work mate and his meal ticket, decided to go in to bat for Adam Sandler via the always enjoyable medium of an open letter.
In response to comments Caton made in the press a few months ago claiming he’d given Schenider a DVD copy of he and Paul Hogan’s MADCAP COMEDY (screamy capitalisation author’s own) Strange Bedfellows and adding “I’m going to have to get on to Rob Schneider and say you owe me one, pal, or Adam Sandler owes me one. They’re really good mates and it’s obvious he’s said ‘Hey, have a look at this’”, Schneider retorts – amongst other things -
“It is true you gave me a DVD copy of Strange Bedfellows but I must confess I’ve never watched it, as it is not on the same format as I have and it makes quite a nice drink coaster.
I know that you recently made an early (and deserved) exit on Dancing with the Stars, still in my wildest imagination I never could see you as one who would ever become ‘bitter’. Unfortunately, that is the conclusion that you have forced me to come to. Now Paul Hogan I can understand!”
Ouch. We do appreciate the obviousness of his attempt to make it clear to Adam Sandler that he still loves him, loves him more than anyone, and please god, give him a role – no matter how small! – in his next movie.
Caton has now spoken out, saying it was all a case of Schneider taking a joke too seriously!
“I had a wonderful time making The Animal with Rob Schneider in 2001 and am disappointed by his comments as I have always considered Rob a friend of mine. I was doing press for network television around the time the film I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry was released and it was during that time that several journalists asked me about the similarities between the story lines of that and Strange Bedfellows.
At no time did I approach the media on this matter. I can only repeat what I said at that time which is that I did give Rob Schnieder a copy of the Strange Bedfellows DVD. I emailed Rob that if the reports of similarities were true then ‘tell Adam Sandler owes me one’. The comments I made were obviously tongue in cheek.
We refuse to believe it’s possible Schneider missed an blatant gag, because if that’s true, well… well… then perhaps, just perhaps, he isn’t one of the comic geniuses of our time. And that’s a truth we’re just not prepared to face right now, as we clutch our copy of Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo in one hand and a pen in the other, practicing our “Mrs Rob Schneider” signature until our hand cramps up.
More » 
Highest. Grossing. Episode. Ever.
7:00AM Defamer Hollywood | Take your mind off the bleakness of the prospect of another working week with the weekend box office numbers: 1. The Simpsons Movie – $US71.850 million It seems that Fox’s clever promotional onslaught – the conversion of selected 7-11s into Kwik-E-Marts, the giant Homer rendering in the English countryside poised to assault the genitals of an ancient fertility god with a donut, and the ambitious strategy of teasing the film’s opening by running 18 years of half-hour “mini-films” on their television network to create awareness for their feature – has paid off handsomely, as The Simpsons Movie’s nearly $US72 million opening weekend far surpassed the safe $US40-50 million projections the studio had claimed. More »
Moviegoers Pronounce ‘Chuck and Larry’ Delightful, Fake-Gay Fun For the Whole Family!
2:30AM Defamer Hollywood | Through the Darkness of yet another Monday morning comes the Light of hope: the weekend US box office numbers: 1. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry – $US34.775 million At multiplexes all over the country, satisfied audiences have emerged from I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, the uplifting story of two firefighters who commit fraud to take advantage of domestic partner benefits, with a newfound tolerance for heterosexuals who pretend to be in committed, gay relationships for comedically expedient purposes. The telltale sign of those whose attitudes have been changed by the progressive work of Adam Sandler and sitcom bear Kevin James is the quick exchange of a same-sex kiss immediately followed by mutual right-crosses to the jaw, a display of affection that says to a cherished bro, “I would totally pretend to be gay for you if that resulted in the correction of an unjust, pension-related bureaucratic snafu! Especially if I got to bone Jessica Biel!” 2. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – $US32.185 million Perhaps the scene that most poignantly illustrates that the Potter franchise is unafraid to tackle the problems of young adulthood is the handling of Harry’s first, much-anticipated kiss with Cho Chang, an intimate milestone that is cut short when the excitable wizard’s wand spills forth its magic too readily after a prematurely cast Celer Ejaculonum! spell. But humiliation is avoided when Cho reassures Harry that now-deceased fling Cedric Diggory suffered from the same problem, soothing Potter’s bruised feelings. More »
‘Adam Sandler Tops Himself with Chuck & Larry’: A Review Round-Up
8:45AM Defamer Hollywood | From the moment Universal released the trailer for I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry – an edgier Adam Sandler vehicle in which he plays a fireman who comes to realise that his sexual and emotional needs can only be fully satisfied by the bear community – we were confident that the studio had not just a commercial and critical hit on their hands, but a watershed contribution to the Queer cinema canon. Shockingly, the nation’s critics have completely missed the movie’s point. What follows is a selection of headlines from today’s reviews for this deeply misunderstood film, proving, at the very least, that not all of the marriage puns were used up trashing Licence to Wed: · Adam Sandler Tops Himself with Chuck & Larry, Alas [palmbeachpost.com] · ‘Chuck and Larry’ gay, not funny [StarTribune.com] · ‘Chuck & Larry’ will lead you straight to exit [ABQTrib.com] More »
Jessica Biel Prepared To Be Made Temporarily Ugly For Her Art
10:17AM Defamer Hollywood | Fresh off her triumphant turn as I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry’s featured fake-gay-home-wrecking plot device, bodaciously tata’d ingenue Jessica Biel is busily plotting her next career moves. Like fellow B-list fantasy object Jessica Alba, Biel is concerned her looks might be preventing her from winning the kinds of Serious Parts she feels she’s ready to tackle. Talking to MTV News, she says she’s ready to subject herself to the rigours of the prosthetic uglification process: “I want to do everything,” she confessed. “I always want to try something completely different from what I just did. I would definitely love to take on something that is physically totally different from what I look like and what I’m used to doing, do something like a ‘Monster.’” More »
Masi Oka Next Likely Addressee Of Angry Open Letter From Part-Asian Actor Rob Schneider
4:10AM Defamer Hollywood | Despite having received the GLAAD Squeal of Approvalâ„¢, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry has mostly underwhelmed critics, one of whom wrote, “[It] isn’t just unfunny; it’s racist, sexist and homophobic – and truly unpleasant to watch.” (In fairness, we should mention that the Village Voice review declared it “as eloquent as Brokeback Mountain,” and included the pull-quote ready, “This sodomite had a gay old time” – sure to become the centrepiece of the movie’s print marketing campaign.) It’s not just critics who find themselves offended, however: At a TCA week promotional party for NBC’s fall slate, Heroes‘ teleporting office worker Masi Oka disapproved of Rob Schneider’s turn as the fake-gay couple’s slanty-eyed officiating officer. From the USA Today report: Oka was less thrilled with the stereotypical Japanese character comedian Rob Schneider plays in the new Adam Sandler comedy feature, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, opening Friday. “I didn’t agree with that,” said Oka. “It was very funny, but it wasn’t smart funny. I don’t understand why an Asian guy couldn’t have played it. You didn’t need to have the (slant) eyes and the buck tooth trying to be a ‘yellow face,’ as we call it.” More »
Homosexual Groups Declare ‘Chuck and Larry’ Gay-OK!
5:25AM Defamer Hollywood | Whatever progress Hollywood looked to be making in telling mature, well-observed stories of sheepwrangler-on-sheepwrangler action in Brokeback Mountain appears at first glance to have been set back considerably by the impending release of I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, an Adam Sandler comedy about two straight firemen who unconvincingly masquerade as a gay couple in order to get into Jessica Biel’s pants. Don’t let the stereotype-laden and unfunny trailer that’s been running ad nauseum since April give you the wrong idea, however. A GLAAD authority has seen the movie twice, and stamped it Gay Kosher: While the press waits to screen “Chuck & Larry,” [GLAAD entertainment media director Damon] Romine has seen the film twice with sample audiences. “Through this disarming type of comedy, there is this use of stereotypes and slurs, and it holds the mirror up for people to ask, ‘Where does this come from?’ ” Romine said. More »
