I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
| Live-Action Film Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry |
| Abbreviation(s): | Chuck & Larry |
| Director: | Dennis Dugan |
| Production companies: | Relativity Media, Shady Acres Entertainment, Happy Madison Productions |
| Release date: | July 12, 2007 |
| Genre: | buddy comedy |
| Country: | USA |
| External links: | at IMDb at Wikipedia Official Website |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
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I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry is a 2007 American buddy comedy film created by Tom Shadyac. Follows the story of two Brooklyn firefighters, Chuck Levine (Adam Sandler) and Larry Valentine (Kevin James)[note 1] who decide to pretend to be married (in a domestic partnership) in order to place Larry's children as beneficiaries of them life insurance.
Fandom
The trope Fake/Pretend Relationship already quite popular among the fandom and its fanworks has always been explored, but with the release of the film many authors started to use its script as the basis of their works, making then I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry' a kind of AU where they could develop their plots. Not all of them obviously made it clear that they had been inspired by the film to do so.
However, even with so many works based on the plot of the film and the trope used in it, it wasn't until April 8, 2016 that it was posted in FFN the one-shot with 639 words Art Imitates Life by Zighana and later in February 27, 2021 A Ring is Like a Circle: It Goes on Forever by ominous_snail_cult at AO3 a longfic with 56K words are developed in the universe of the work, using the characters Chuck and Larry as a focus.
In 1999 when the first version of the film entitled "I Now Pronounce You Joe and Benny"[1] was announced with Will Smith and Nicolas Cage, The Advocate[note 2] magazine made a little article about how stereotypes of straight men playing at being gay can be funny to the media, but not to the LGBT Community:
The good news: Macho stars Nicolas Cage and Will Smith will reportedly star as a gay couple in an upcoming film. The bad news: They're not really gay. In director Tom Shadyac's I Now Pronounce You Joe and Benny, the duo play firefighters who “marry" to get same-sex partner benefits – not love. Along with this fall's Happy, Texas, which features a pair of straight escaped cons posing as gay lovers, Joe and Benny revives the comedy cliché that says it's hilarious when straight characters – especially macho men – pretend to be gay. Hollywood would probably love for us to laugh along, but while the joke may work in the short run, too many us of remember how unfunny Three's Company reruns are.[2]
Coincidentally, some viewers, following the line of reasoning that perhaps the Cage and Smith version could have been better, left their outrage online about the version produced by Sandler. Like the case of user metalyger on a Reddit discussion forum about the 99 script.
[metalyger]
That's weird. I wonder what that would have been like. I couldn't even finish Chuck And Larry, I thought it was unfunny and too homophobic, like the point being "let's make gay jokes, and redeem the characters at the end so we were being tolerate all along, right guys?!" But maybe in 1999, with better stars, it could have worked better.[3]
However, there are also those who have come to like the film, despite all the criticism.
[denalisecho]
my new comfort movie is now “I now pronounce you chuck and larry” and while it starts off pretty homophobic, (f slur said by main characters, obvious discomfort with one MC’s son being more feminine and trying to make him manly) the fucking GROWTH.I did NOT expect a fucking Adam Sandler movie to be emotional but i had to add this to my “Don’t watch these unless you wanna cry” list.[4]
Fanworks
Fanart
Fanfiction
- Art Imitates Life by Zighana, Chuck and Larry watch Faking It with their kids. Hilarity ensues. Chuck/Larry fluff
- A Ring is Like a Circle: It Goes on Forever by ominous_snail_cult, When Larry asked Chuck to have a domestic partnership with him, Chuck he was hesitant, but eventually complied. If anything happened to Larry in their line of duty, he needed someone to take care of the kids, and though the situation wasn't ideal, he'd do anything for his best friend. All he had to do was sign a few papers, right? But when they send someone ever to investigate their partnerships, they have to pretend to actually be married. To be GAY married. To pretend to be in love!
- every sign pointed straight to you by parkrstark, 2 years after Sarah is born, Kevin's world is shattered when Jenny dies. After a too close call during a case, Kevin realizes he's all Sarah has left. He can't keep risking his life with Sarah here, and 'marrying' his partner is the only way to keep her safe in case he dies. And if he happens to fall for him along the way, he's not complaining. (Castle fandom, inspired by the film)
- I Pronounce You Buck and Eddie by Tvmoviesparks, Eddie Diaz living in the world grief and denial over the loss of his wife, Shannon who died a in car accident. But now, after a year of being dead Eddie has lost chance to transfer his benefits to Christopher, they only way to he could save and secure his son future is to marry, Evan Buckley aka Buck; Best friend and fellow firefighter partner at the 118. (9-1-1 fandom, inspired by the film)
- Practically Married by Epiphanyx7, After his wife leaves him, Arthur is run ragged trying to take care of his twin sons Owain and Gawain. In order to help out, his best friend Merlin moves in with him. This takes place two years later, when for some reason, everyone seems to think that Merlin and Arthur are more than friends... which is rather ridiculous, isn't it? (Merlin fandom, inspired by the film)
Archives, Communities & Resources
Notes
- ^ Originally the film would be recorded in 1999, with Will Smith and Nicolas Cage in the roles of Benjamin "Benny" Lewis and Joseph "Joe" Valentino.
- ^ The Advocate' is a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) monthly newsmagazine. Established in 1967, it is the oldest continuing LGBT publication in the United States.
References
- ^ "Shadyac altar ego - Variety". Archived from the original on 2022-02-16.
- ^ "I, Nicolas Cage, take thee, Will Smith". The Advocate. Here. 1999-05-25. p. 22. Retrieved 2010-08-02.
- ^ "metalyger comments on TIL that the original 1999 draft of I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry". Archived from the original on 2022-02-15.
- ^ denalisecho (2023-02-26). "my new comfort movie is now "I now pronounce you chuck and larry" and while it starts off pretty …". Tumblr. Archived from the original on 2023-04-08.