5 Fascinating Things About "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry"

"Fascinating" may be pushing it. How about interesting? Notable? Would you believe "things that aren't totally dull?"



The fact is, when something is expiring on Netflix, all of a sudden, I feel the urge to see it, even if it's something I don't think I will particularly like. Case in point: I Now Pronounce You Chuck and larry, the Adam Sandler/Kevin James "pretend to be a gay couple to get benefits" movie that really seems like it's from a different era. In fact it is--all the way from 2007!

This movie isn't necessarily "on brand" for me, but I did chuckle a few times. Here are 5 things that stand out to me after seeing it for the first time:

*Dennis Dugan cameo: Dennis Dugan may always be Richie Brockelman, or at least staple of late 1970s TV,  to a large segment of the populace, but he has this long connection with Sandler. I can't help but wonder, how does Dugan pick his spots? Is he like, "OK, this case worker is a great little part. I gotta do this"?

*Gary Valentine is in it: What is the deal with Gary Valentine, a poor man's Kevin James who keeps turning up in projects in which he A) appears with Kevin James yet B) is not related to Kevin James.

(Brief pause for research)

Oh, wait, he's Kevin James' brother! Well, that makes partial sense. Yet he played James' cousin in King of Queens, and in Chuck and Larry, he is not in any way related to Chuck--or is it Larry? I still don't know.

Actually, I don't know if they shared any shots, which almost makes it worse. In one early scene, Sandler's and James' firefighter characters are on their way to a blaze with their crew, and as everyone banters on the truck, Sandler suddenly addresses Valentine, and the shot of Kevin's bro jars and confuses me.

I forgot that the guy kept turning up in his bro's projects, so for a minute I thought James' character had grown a mustache while on the way to the fire. I mean, it's really distracting to have he and James in the same movie and not be related or not have the resemblance noted. Maybe this is an intentional rib done on the audience?

*Pointless "Asian" cameo by Rob Schneider: Speaking of the cronies who turn up in these movies, Rob Schneider "spices up" the narrative by playing an Asian gentleman who performs the marriage ceremony for Chuck and Larry. The character is Asian for no other reason, apparently, than to let Schneider do an over-the-top dialect. I mean, it's not like Sandler's buddy IS Asian, is he?

(Brief pause for research)

According to Wikipedia: "Schneider's maternal grandmother was a Filipina who met and married his grandfather, a white American army private, while he was stationed in the Philippines"

Hmm. I guess...that makes it OK? It's like they decided, "The gay stuff isn't offensive enough because we ultimately come down hard on the side of tolerance and acceptance. We gotta throw something else in there."

*Fetishization of Jessica Biel's body: Hey, I'm not complaining. I did find it fascinating. Let's again go to Mind of the Filmmakers Theatre: "No straight guy is gonna want to go see this unless we have shots of Jessica Biel undressing in the trailer. Then every straight guy is gonna want to go see this."

*Sandler as a chick magnet: This may be the single most offensive aspect of the entire film. Forget the whole theme of the movie, including the gay jokes; forget Schneider's--well, his entire performance; forget everything, really. Sandler's character is some kind of super stud right from the beginning of the movie, when two hot twins fight over him. Soon afterwards, he takes a bevy of Hooters girls back to his place and clearly has them mesmerized by his raw sexual machismo.

I guess it's good to call the shots in your movies. This whole scenario threw me so much I never could explore the sociopolitical angles of the gay marriage storyline.

'Mooners Monday: Leave it there; the cat'll get it!

I really didn;t know about the rich history of ad-libs in The Honeymooners until I plowed through The Official Honeymooners Treasury and read all kinds of anecdotes about bloopers and mishaps and cast's reactions to them as the cameras kept rolling. One of the most famous ad-libs in the series' run comes in Alice and the Blonde. Bert Weedemeyer is bringing out refreshments to the gang:

Suddenly he knocks into the coffee table and spills a little.

Art Carney as Ed Norton leans over and says in classic animated Norton fashion: "Leave it there; the cat'll get it!"

In itself, that isn't so hilarious if you don't know it's an unscripted reaction to Bert's accident. However, once you know it isn't supposed to happen, it becomes one of the more fascinating moments in 'Mooners lore.

First, I love Ralph's over-the-top reaction to Norton's comment. With a huge smile, he cackles, "Leave it there; the cat'll get it!"

He turns to Alice and repeats it with a tone of, "Come on, didn't you hear his hilarious remark?"

Gleason's reaction is entirely in character because Ralph is in classic "sucking up and trying to be charming" mode, in which he exaggerates everything to demonstrate what a good time he's having.

However, Alice is already fed up with this, so Audrey Meadows' stern, "I heard him," is also in character:

And check out Ralph's chagrined face after Alice kills the moment:

Again, by itself, this isn't hilarious stuff, though it is amusing and totally in keeping with the rest of the scene. But when you think that this is all done on the fly, it seems perfect, an amazing sequence of talented performers taking something unexpected and turning it into something entertaining and 100% appropriate to the larger purpose of the story.

In The Official Honeymooners Treasury, Art Carney himself tells the authors they didn't do a lot of ad-libbing and mostly stuck to the script, but Gleason trusted him and knew he wasn;t trying to upstage him or steal his thunder." He also tells them, "I still use that line." Even away from Norton, he would throw that into a rehearsal or scene when something fell, and sometimes, he said, they would keep it in."

Freda Rosen, who plays Rita, says in the book:

The unusual thing is that when somebody comes out with an ad-lib to save something, then usually that's it, they go back to the script. With The Honeymooners, the unusual thing is that you ad-libe, and then the other guy picks up on it, and they really turn it into something funny. You'd never know it was an ad-lib  if you didn't study this stuff and get it under your skin.

Streaming Video Power Rankings #126: Special Labor Day Edition

The 3-day weekend brings us the opportunity for rest, reflection, and...really intense streaming? I don't know. A lot happened in the SVOD world this week, so these rankings do not reflect the September 1 adds that so many of our favorite streamers will unveil this weekend. Expect them to be a factor next week.

1) CBS All-Access:  How does a fairly lame overpriced paid service win me over? Well, giving away a 30-day free trial helps. It's amazing that it includes the ad-free option. When I signed up and saw the prompt to choose ad-free or with ads, my reaction was:

"Uh...is this a trick question?"

Also, CBS obviously is reading and reacting to these rankings. At some point in recent weeks, it added a bunch of Gunsmoke episodes as I recommended right here. For now it's only the first two hourling seasons (7 and 8), but it still counts. Now let's get Mannix on here before my free month expires.

2) Netflix: It might have been #1 if not for a frustrating morning I spent trying to watch an episode of...anything except the Disenchantment trailer it seemed to want to force me to sample. I thoroughly enjoyed the end of The Flash season 4, plus my kids and I enjoyed the new series Magic for Humans. Bonus points for my kids being done with Fuller House...for now.

3) Filmstruck: I caught Singles (dated? Let's say it's a time capsule, but it's a fun movie either way) and Where Danger Lives (Mitchum in an entertaining noir) before they expired, and Filmstruck just added collections devoted to Paul Newman, mockumentaries, and--this is fun--early animation shorts (or as those of us in less posh circles might say, cartoons) featuring the likes of Felix the Cat.

4) YouTube: This week, I checked out a 20-minute (or so) clip of mostly 1970s CBS TV promos and bumpers, and I loved it. I also watched Ray Parker Jr.'s Ghostbusters video for the first time in years. You know, the Jeffrey Tambor and Al Franken cameos may not hold up so well now, but I still wonder why they happened then.

5) WWE Network: On a weekend in which a huge indie wrestling event is going to celebrate ring action and non-corporate action, let's not forget that on the Network you can see an episode of Prime Time Wrestling that has a 5-minute match between The British Bulldogs and The Hart Foundation followed by 20 minutes of the Harts on a parody of The Dating Game hosted by Vince McMahon.

6) Nosey: I'm not telling you I didn't watch another episode of Sally devoted to troubled teens, but I sure ain't telling you I did. Let's say the high ranking is based on this: I can't find it there now, but one day I saw a "Nosey Hidden Gem" of an episode of a mystery daytime talk series. The description involved heroin and prostitution. What a gem!

7) Prime Video: I didn't watch a lot of Prime this week, but the service gained a ton of MGM library films this week, and it debuts the nifty-looking Jack Ryan series  this weekend. I think TV could use some more non-comic book straight-up action shows. Lethal Weapon ain't cutting it.

8) Tubi TV: The "Tubi channels" concept is going into effect, with free "channels" akin to the paid ones on Amazon Prime. The good news it's free here. The bad news is it's hard to organize and sort through them.

That said, it is very cool that a lot (but not all...yet) of the Shout! TV content is available here. It may have less ads (I haven't tested that yet), plus unlike on Shout!, you can add to a queue, the continue watching is reliable, and you don't have to add a stupid ! each time you write Tubi.

9) NBC: Give this free outlet credit for adding all episode of Heroes and Saved by the Bell. Man, I rank NBC and CBS in the same week? Feels like I'm selling out to THE MAN.

10) Hulu: I'd like to see Hulu step it up a bit in September, though Castle Rock does seem to gain momentum each week.

Brooks on Books: "Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted" by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

Note: This post appeared originally on battleofthenetworkshows.com, the home of our podcast covering television of the 70s and 80s. Check the site for more posts like this in addition to episodes of the show!

I'll check out just about any book-length treatment of 1970s and 1980s TV, but when this book came out in 2013, some negative reviews (particularly a few on Amazon) scared me away. I revisited this after we covered The Mary Tyler Moore Show earlier this season, though, and I recommend it for any fan of the series. It has its flaws and quirks, but it also has tons of great info and is a fun read.

First, let me mention those quirks: The book starts off reading like an agenda-driven effort to focus on the female writers who worked on the show. Oddly, that emphasis fades once the book gets going, and while Armstrong does keep checking in on some of the women who helped craft the series, it's not like they overshadow co-creators James L. Brooks and Allen Burns. Feminism is absolutely a big part of the series' story and appeal, but it feels like there is an inconsistent approach to it in the book, and MTM is maybe inflated a bit to seem like more of a singular advancement for women that it was.

More importantly, there are some strong factual errors, especially early in the book (a misidentification of Room 222 jarred me), that make you wonder about the rest of it. Some of the choices are a little odd, like the decision to tell so much of the story of a dedicated fan who grew to knew the show's principals but comes off kind of like a stalker.

That said, the book is really easy reading with lots of cool details. We've alluded to some of them here on the site, like the complex relationship between Ted Knight and Ed Asner. The saga of how MTM was cast makes a fascinating story in itself. Gavin MacLeod read for Lou Grant before asking, almost as an afterthought, to read for Murray. Asner himself struggled to get the Lou character down. Producers were skeptical of Cloris Leachman but casting exec Ethel Winant pushed for her.

Armstrong does a great job of chronicling the establishment of the series and how it takes off. Her sections on iconic episodes like the finale and the Chuckles the Clown funeral make me wish she spent more time talking about specific installments. The decision to semi-focus on the lives of some of the key female scribes may mean less time for more of the actual goings-on of the series during its prime years.

Overall, though, the anecdotes and info in here make this a must-read for MTM fans and a recommended one for fans of era TV in general, with the caveat that there are some inaccuracies and misleading bits in the text (see those Amazon reviews for more). I personally think Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted improves as it gets going, and I will likely seek out Armstrong's recent book on Seinfeld.

'Mooners Monday: A closer look at Rita Weedemeyer

One of the standout elements of Alice and the Blonde is Audrey Meadows glamming it up in an effort to please Ralph (and, no, I STILl don't know what the deal is with her and that rum candy). Let's take a closer look at the character who inspires Alice's behavior, though: Bert Weedemeyer's new bride Rita.

Rita is played by Freda Rosen (1928-2016), the wife of comedy writer Arnie Rosen. Arnie and partner Coleman Jacoby wrote for Gleason's shows in the 1950s and also for The Phil Silvers Show, but Freda made an indelible mark with her memorable turn as Rita.

Again, I give full credit to the sacred text The Official Honeymooners Treasury, which features great quotes from an interview with Freda Rosen. The episode was produced well after it was written because of the difficulty finding a suitable actress. Rosen claims no one on the show knew she was the writer's wife when she auditioned. She she beat out 19 other actresses for the role of "somebody kind of shallow and dumb, but not anything really heavier than that. Innocent, nonthreatening, just a dumb broad," then ran out and bought cigarette holders to practice her big "light up" scene.

She was not a smoker, so she had to work on using the holder and lighting the cigarette, and then of course the infamous lack of rehearsal on the series combined with the live-to-tape-style process made for a nerve-wracking experience.

 Rosen says that she was surprised when Gleason whacked her on the arm--so much so that she nearly toppled over in the incredibly tight evening dress she wore.

"If you noticed, I always took very tiny steps. When he pushed me, I took those little steps backwards, because otherwise it was right on my fanny."

Freda Rosen provides one of the more memorable one-shot performances in 'Mooners history, and I think fans can agree "she certainly is a treasure." I like the actress' quote that closes the book's chapter on this episode: "It was great fun and scary!"

Streaming Video Power Rankings #125: End of Summer Edition

No, I take that back! It is NOT the end of the summer. Summer will live forever!

1) Hulu: Made a splashy announcement with its news of a Veronica Mars revival, garnered buzz for the latest episode of Castle Rock, and let me watch several episodes of Seinfeld.  It's also offering different kinds of original programming like new docuseries Crime & Punishment.

2) WWE Network: Huge week for the Network with Summer Slam, an NXT Takeover, and a big drop of classic content plus a complete WCCW show from 1981 as a Hidden Gem--truly a little something for everyone.

3) Filmstruck: It would be #1 if I had more time to watch it this past week (I only watched The Petrified Forest), what with the additions of a bunch of Lana Turner movies last weekend and Cary Grant this weekend. They are using these Star of the Week categories to get in some more obscure Hollywood classics, too. Also new this weekend: swashbuckler movies and Michael Crichton movies.

My only beef is that all the Bette Davis movies left, but they were there several months, and Filmstruck is open about when titles depart, so I can't get too angry.

4) YouTube: The Real Music Observer continues saturation coverage of the Steve Perry comeback, but I am most excited that user robatsea2009 posted a vintage NBC promo spotlighting Karl Malden in SKAG!

5) Prime Video: Dare I watch Mother! this weekend to see what the fuss is about? And dare I watch Disobedience to see Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams make out? Ok, that one won't be such a sacrifice.

I hadn't noticed Prime added Gidget, but it did, and around here we applaud any addition of 60s TV.

6) PIX11: Thumbs up to the team there for putting up a 1985 interview with Robin Leach to mark the TV icon's passing. "Although money doesn't buy happiness, it sure does help it," says Leach in a chat with Marvin Scott.

7) TubiTV: Because I am still fascinated by and still watching the 2014 Martin Lawrence/Kelsey Grammer sitcom Partners.



8) MLB TV: Hey, Pittsburgh, would it kill you to score a run every now and then?

9) Shout! TV: Props to The Dells for going on an episode of Soul! and turning 1950s Doo Wop classic "Oh, What a Night" into an endless 1970s-style soliloquy complete with a reference to Dolemite.

10) Netflix: I don't like to make these rankings punitive, but, jeez, this week Netflix dumped user reviews and introduced unskippable house ads--two moves unasked for and resented by consumers. You might throw in the surprising cancellation of Joel McHale's and Michelle Wolf's shows, too, but I assume they have detailed viewership data on those.

Far worse may be my unscientific observation that a reputation is building--and not just among grumpy TV critics--that Netflix's "brand" is tons of mediocre crap designed to keep us drooling in front of the idiot box all day but not really being engaged.