I Think I Love My Wife

Review By: Rocco Passafuime
RoccoPassafuime@TheCinemaSource.com

When most people think of Chris Rock the stand-up comedian, they think of an extremely talented performer with an innate gift for delivering extremely sharp commentary on race, relationships, and the absurdities of popular culture. However, Chris Rock on the screen is surprisingly a very mixed bag.

For every on-point thing he’s done on screen from his self-titled HBO talk show to the cult favorite Pootie Tang to his CW TV series Everybody Hates Chris, there are also disappointing misfires like his directorial debut Head Of State. Unfortunately, despite the comedian’s obviously best efforts here, Chris Rock the director has sadly misfired again with the romantic comedy/drama I Think I Love My Wife, now available on DVD.

Richard Cooper (Chris Rock) is a successful banker working in Manhattan and seems to have it all, a nice home in the suburbs upstate, a lovely wife Brenda (Gina Torres), and two children. He has one problem, their sex life in their seven-year marriage has long fizzled, causing Richard’s eye to often wander at the ladies he encounters when he goes to work and wonder what life would be like if he were still single.

His fidelity is increasingly tested when old acquaintance, Nikki Tru (Kerry Washington), a club-hopping around-the-way girl, begins to show up regularly at his office uninvited to try to loosen up the tightly-wound and settled Richard up. Convincing him that he’s unhappy with his life, he begins doing favors for Nikki. This includes helping her get a job, traveling to Washington D.C. and her move her stuff out which ends in a disastrous encounter with her ex, and a trip to the club which also ends in disaster, causing him to veer towards causing problems not only at his job, but in his increasingly fragile marriage.

I Think I Love My Wife is one of those movies that on the surface should have been a sure thing for Chris Rock, due to his often sharp riffs on relationship humor in his stand-up. Unfortunately, the comedian’s execution of this movie is often haphazard at best.

b>Chris Rock turns what is essentially a remake of the 1972 French romantic drama Chloe In The Afternoon into a comedy of sorts. However, Rock is woefully unable to balance the two elements and creates a film that is unsure of whether it wants to be a comedy or a drama in its storytelling.

The second problem, even more shockingly, is the comedy itself. For each gag that is extremely hilarious (a fantasy of Richard encountering different girls and picking them up, guys rapping on his portable music player on the elevator, scenes of Richard getting stoned and dancing in a club, and particularly Richard’s diatribe about constantly having chicken), there are some rather surprisingly painful misfires (Richard gets beat down by Nikki’s ex, scenes involving condoms and Viagra jokes, and an ending where Richard and the wife inexplicably break into song).

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