Between a Rock and a Hard Place
For those who are unaware "I Think I Love My Wife" is basically Chris Rock who wrote, directed and acted in the movie updating Eric Rohmer's "Chloe in the Afternoon". Now that sounds like it could be a disaster because here we have a story about a man who is tempted to cheat on his wife but we also have Chris Rock who let's be honest is known for his loud, attitude filled comedy. And unfortunately for me it didn't work, it wasn't a disaster but whilst the depth of the story and characters were good the interweaving of Rock's brand of comedy caused it to jar.
Richard Cooper's (Chris Rock - The Longest Yard) life is almost perfect, he is an investment banker, married and has 2 children, the trouble is after 7 years he isn't get any. So when sexy old friend Nikki (Kerry Washington - Fantastic Four) shows up at his office he finds her fun loving attitude exactly what he is missing and becomes tempted to cheat on his wife. But as Richard becomes increasingly distracted by Nikki both his work and home life starts to suffer.
So as I already mentioned "I Think I Love My Wife" is a movie which tries to interweave this story about a man being tempted to cheat on his wife with Chris Rock's brand of humour and it doesn't work, it jars too much. And that is a shame because the depth of story and characters is good and with out the comedy it would have been a good update of an old movie. Rock has managed in updating the original to get across the situations of the characters so whilst Richard himself is straight forwards tempted between family and thrills we have his wife who feels that Richard doesn't appreciate what it takes for her to work and manage the family. And then in Nikki's case there is that sense of being too old to be single and doing the party scene. These characters are well written and make the drama side of the movie tick.
But then we get the comedy and as you would expect the Chris Rock style of comedy which constantly jars with the dramatic side. The thing is that it intentionally jars, and the jokes are typical Chris Rock so it is what you expect when you sit down to watch but because the dramatic side is good it is a shame that suddenly you get this moment of humour which stops the flow.
What is interesting is watching Chris Rock do drama as he has a talent for playing the serious guy and again it is another reason why when his character suddenly switches to deliver a moment of humour it is frustrating. Rock is not the only good performance as Kerry Washington gets across the aging aspect of her character as she feels she needs to settle down as she is becoming the oldest person on the party scene. But both these performances are blown away by Gina Torres who really delivers the drama and gets across the feeling of not being appreciated with out turning the whole set up into a comical caricature.
What this all boils down to is that "I Think I Love My Wife" didn't work for me because I didn't like the mix of drama and then loud comedy. And that is a shame as the actual drama side with the moral dilemma of an affair is really good.
