I think of this as a later Adam Sandler film, which is odd, because he has continued to act in a pile of films since then, but before this you’ve got almost an annual film that became a classic, including Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, The Waterboy, and lesser films that still were pretty big hits. Around the end of the first decade of this century, though, he mixes in some dramas and the comedies are a little more spaced out. And then he signs with Netflix, which really dropped him off of my radar (unless I’m over at my brother’s house, I guess). But, somehow, this film is 18 years old. Almost black-and-white, although it came out well into the 21st century.
So: In this film, Sandler plays Chuck, a womanizing firefighter. Kevin James plays Larry, his best friend, a widower with two kids. In a hazardous situation, Larry saves Chuck’s life, so Chuck owes him. Due to a paperwork error, Larry cannot assign his benefits and life insurance to a trust for his children which means they would get nothing if he died–so he enlists Chuck to enter into a domestic partnership/civil union with him so that Chuck can be the beneficiary. Although they thought they could keep it on the down-low, an investigation leads their firehouse to learn of it, which has two effects: The gay firemen are inspired to come out, but the others are no longer comfortable with Chuck and Larry. Jessica Biel plays a gay-friendly attorney (straight) who helps them on their case, but Chuck takes a shine to her. Hijinks ensue, and a dramatic courtroom scene ends the major drama and a gay wedding ends the film.
I suppose the film drew its share of ire for being about straight men pretending to be gay, but it’s definitely gay-positive in its tone and message. Of course, that might require more intellectual work to evaluate the message instead of reflexively condemning it.
Still, I wouldn’t call this one of my favorite Sandler works. Somewhere below Little Nicky and Don’t Mess with the Zohan but on par with Happy Gilmore 2 (ahut).
