Sandler's flamboyantly straight Chuck goes to Ontario to wed and moves into Larry's house, where his discomfort with the arrangement vanishes. He helps cook the meals, raise the kids, and shares a bed with Larry. Outside a costume ball, he stands up to picketing bigots and discovers his being with Larry means he's perceived as a "chubby chaser" (a guy who prefers a few extra pounds in his men). He embarks on a girls' day with Hollywood's favorite prop, Jessica Biel (amiably playing the sexy lawyer defending Chuck and Larry against a possible fraud charge), and consoles a supermacho firefighter who's inspired by Chuck and Larry's love to out himself.
Eventually, the very idea of what gay means seems up for grabs -- momentarily. Only when Sandler, who has never been less deranged , and James, who's actually very good, are domesticating does the movie seem comfortable with itself.
Otherwise, "Chuck and Larry" is torn between shouting down homophobia and asserting its own hetero urges (those generous shots of Biel's rump; an entire scene of her in panties, bra, and heels; Sandler feeling her up at her request).
Despite parts for Dan Aykroyd and Steve Buscemi, the film is often too self-conscious to be truly gangbusters, which is too bad since no one says anything revealing or self-reflective. This is a film in which people are content not to talk about their feelings, which is odd since two-thirds of the surviving script is credited to Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor , the men who wrote "Sideways ," "About Schmidt ," and "Election ." (The other third goes to Barry Fanaro. ) Payne and Taylor are the Chuck and Larry of semi-satire, and somehow the ambivalent tone of their own movies has crept past Dennis Dugan's fumbling direction and into this one.
