Sorry for the delay on Friday’s comic. I posted earlier about the business trip I was on in Columbus Tuesday through Thursday. My flight came in late Thursday night and I didn’t have an opportunity to draw anything during the day because I was, y’know, working. And instead of doing the comic in the evening, I opted to spend it with Henry and Cami instead. Can you fault me? Anyway, better late than never.

When Cami and I started to see trailers for I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry in theaters a few months ago, Cami said she was interested. Mostly because her default setting is to give any Adam Sandler movie the benefit of the doubt. I’ve talked about it on the site before, but Cami is a die-hard Adam Sandler fan – which makes no sense if you know her at all. She’s normally a very intelligent and reasonable woman.

Personally, I kind of outgrew Sandler’s antics after I graduated college. Or I guess I became less forgiving of his faults. That’s not a slam against the Sandman or anyone who enjoys his brand of comedy. He’s clearly a very sweet person, charming and affible. I’m actually quite fond of his policy never to give print interviews after once being burned by Entertainment Weekly. But as far as the movies go… they’re just not very good. Mr. Deeds? Awful. Click? Tried too hard to be It’s A Wonderful Life and couldn’t pick a direction.

The Sandler movies that I’ve liked are those where he takes his man-boy persona and redirects it into more emotionally unstable territory. I loved Punch Drunk Love despite it’s obtuseness. I thought Reign Over Me was one of the more interesting movies of the first half of the year. Even Spanglish put a neat twist on things – even if I couldn’t stant Tea Leoni’s character.

Kevin James from The King of Queens is also in Chuck and Larry and I like him a lot, too. He seems really easy going and a lot of fun. As a matter of fact, there are A LOT of actors I like in this movie. Dan Aykroyd, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi… So what’s the problem? Sorry, but the premise is just too hack sitcom-y. Kevin James’s character loses his wife in an accident. So in order to secure pension benefits for their future if something should happen to him on the job, he enters a “domestic partnership” with Sandler, his co-worker and best friend, to defraud the city. Wackiness ensues – mostly at the expense of the notion that the thought of two dudes rolling around together is funny. Are their movies by gay filmmakers that play heterosexuality for laughs? Like, a lesbian and a gay guy have to play it straight (no pun) in order to pull the wool over someone’s eyes?

Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be so critical. After all, I’ve used Victor there in the last panel several times as a comedic foil, constantly reusing his attraction to Tom as a punchline. But I guess I feel like I’m somewhat exempt from that kind of self-analysis because the joke isn’t really on Victor – it’s on Tom because he’s so clueless about it. Everyone else seems to know Victor has a thing for Tom, but Tom thinks Victor just wants to beat him up and throw him out of the theater.

Maybe I should shut up now.

I guess the big question that crops up in my mind about Chuck and Larry is that James’s character doesn’t have any female friends he can go to that will help him out with the pension problem? It’s more realistic. People marry for convienience all the time. Whether it’s to get a green card, tax benefits or whatever. Truthfully, you probably could have made a more emotionally resonant movie with that set up. What if James and his female friend end up falling for each other. Or, what if, at the end of it, James’s character discovers that he’s really gay after all! That would be a twist.

I realize that there’s no point complaining about it. The movie has been made. It just seems kind of cheap to take what feels like a discarded Three’s Company episode and stretch it out into a two-hour movie.

But maybe that’s just me.