March 16, 2007 @ 1:09 pm

When Male Eyes Are Wanderin'

by: Laura Checkoway

"I Think I Love My Wife": Chris Rock's funny look into the pathos of men and marriage

Married and bored or single and lonely? These are the two options you get, according to Chris Rock's 2004 special, Chris Rock: Never Scared. That conundrum resonated so deeply with Rock that he decided to write, direct, produce, and star in a film about it - I Think I Love My Wife - which hit theaters today. An adaptation of Eric Rohmer's 1972 Chloe in the Afternoon, the film is a hilarious, and sometimes frightening, glimpse into the mind of a married man, Richard Cooper (Rock), who lives a comfortable, settled suburban life with his beautiful schoolteacher wife Brenda (Gina Torres) and two kids in Westchester, New York. A successful investment banker who commutes into Manhattan on the Metro North every day, Richard is constantly checking out women - on the train, on his lunch break, on the street, on the train - before returning home to his boring, married existence. "It's a lot of people's lives, not like my special life," Rock says, on a chilly Tuesday morning in Manhattan's Regency Hotel. "I'm a guy. You see attractive people every day - she's cute - notice, and keep it moving." Forty-two-year-old Rock, who has been married to Malaak Compton for 11 years and has two children, says that we all know how it feels after the thrill is gone. "We're all bored," he claims. "I'm an entertainer. I bore easily." The film, however, is anything but boring. Originally slated to be directed by Charles Stone III, Rock ended up shooting the project himself because they had "creative differences," he says. "He didn't like Annie Hall. That scared me. If you don't like Annie Hall..." The drama in I Think I Love My Wife begins when a free-spirited, seductive old friend from Richard's former clubbing days, Nikki (Kerry Washington), moves to New York and reaches out, transforming Richard's inner fantasies into a love triangle filled with secret lunches and afternoon rendezvous. Rock, who calls Washington "sneaky fine," thought Kerry was perfect for the temptress role. "Watching Ray for the fourth time, I realized, ooh, she's fine. She snuck up on me." Though Nikki is clad in scandalously short dresses throughout the film (and even sexy lingerie in one scene), Washington enjoyed diving deep into her role. "Nikki's much more of a diva than I am," says the actress. "She had surprising depth for a seductress written by men." Clearly written by men, I Think I Love My Wife might serve as a wake-up call for many women, into the wandering, mischievous minds of the male species. Both funny and disturbing, Rock expects mixed reactions. "It's like my stand-up - some jokes you love, some jokes you're like, Fuck him!" Regardless, moviegoers are sure to relate to Rock's real, grown-man role. "I think I'm funniest as a real guy. I like playing a grown-up," he says. "I think most guys play guys who won't grow up." As he's matured, some fans wonder if Rock's material has lost some of its raunchy spark and gotten too soft. "I hope I get softer over the years," he says. "I mean, hey, Prince is performing at the Super Bowl."

Article tags: Male, Eyes, Wanderin 

del.icio.us digg Furl Reddit YahooMyWeb

Page printed from:
http://www.vibe.com/news/news_headlines/2007/03/i_think_i_love/

Return to previous page