I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this single-sided, double-layered DVD; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. While some of the movie looked quite good, many other moments seemed problematic.
Sharpness usually appeared accurate and detailed. At times, however, I found the image to come across as somewhat fuzzy and soft, with lesser definition seen in some of the wide shots. Nonetheless, most of the movie appeared clear and appropriately focused. Moiré effects and jagged edges presented no concerns, but I noticed some moderate edge enhancement at times. As for print flaws, I saw a speck or two, but no real distractions emerged.
Colors were fairly accurate, though they seemed to be a little murky at times. While they generally appeared acceptably vivid and bright, they occasionally lacked tremendous tightness. Black levels were fairly deep and rich, but shadow detail was mediocre. Low-light shots offered decent delineation at best. Ultimately, this was a watchable but erratic transfer.
As for the film’s Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, it was surprisingly involving given the movie’s genre. I don’t expect much from comedies, but the fires opened up the mix in a solid manner. In the forward channels, the music provided good stereo separation and the effects broadened the track well. Surrounds added positive reinforcement in quieter scenes and kicked to life nicely during the action sequences. The track used the various channels in an active manner and created a fine sense of setting.
Audio quality appeared very good. Dialogue was consistently warm and natural, and speech displayed no concerns related to edginess or intelligibility. Effects were lively and dynamic. During the fires, bass response seemed especially good, as that side of things brought out real depth. Music also sounded bright and clear. There weren’t enough of those action scenes to bolster my grade above a “B”, but this was still a nice track.
As we move to the extras, we start with two separate audio commentaries. The first comes from director Dennis Dugan and actors Adam Sandler and Kevin James. All three sit together for this running, screen-specific discussion. They talk about locations and sets, other cast members, cut scenes and editing, musical choices, and a few general notes.
With Sandler and James in tow, you might expect a lot of funny bits here. You won’t find many, unfortunately. Oh, there’s the occasional laugh, but for the most part, this is a track packed with happy talk and fluff. They kid around with each other and tell us how much they like different parts of the movie. They also make sure we know the names of many, many performers in the film, a trend that gets tedious quickly. This isn’t a very interesting track.
Note that although Pronounce boasts a “PG-13” rating, this is an “R”-rated commentary. Sandler lets the “F-bombs” fly, so if you have sensitive ears, you won’t be happy.
Next we get a solo track from director Dennis Dugan. He provides his own running, screen-specific discussion. Essentially Dugan covers the same topics found in the first track, though with a moderately different perspective. We get a fair amount of the same info. Dugan recorded this commentary after he did the other one and acknowledges that he’s repeating notes but does it anyway.
Dugan does offer a little more detail about the production without Sandler and James along for the ride – not a lot more detail, but enough to make this a more satisfying track for those who want to learn something about the film. Unfortunately, Dugan also uses the space to incessantly shill for his next movie. He seems to think his promotional efforts are amusing, but they’re not. They’re irritating at best. Despite that trend, this is the superior commentary of the two. It’s not a particularly good commentary, but it proves more useful than its predecessor.
Seven Deleted Scenes run a total of nine minutes, 44 seconds. We see Chuck and Larry as they get clothes for their wedding and also find out how they discovered their homeless witness. Larry refuses to let Chuck make it with a chick in his house, and we see them discuss their situation in the workout room. More scenes show their arrival at the costume party, Larry in the urinal at that event, Fitzer’s attempts to prove that C&L aren’t gay, and a little more of the firefighters at work. Some might’ve been slightly interesting in terms of exposition but none would’ve actually added anything to the movie. Given its already excessive length, it was a good idea to cut them.
We can watch the deleted scenes with or without commentary from Dugan. Though chatty during the other tracks, Dugan says very little here. He throws out a few general notes about the cast and that’s about it. He alludes to the reasons he cut some of the clips but offers no insight and says very little. You can safely skip this weak commentary.
Five featurettes follow. Laughing Is Contagious goes for six minutes, 41 seconds as it mixes movie clips, shots from the set, and interviews. We hear from Sandler, James and actor Jessica Biel – briefly, as they say almost nothing. Instead, this acts mostly as a blooper reel. We see some outtakes and lots of giggling. It’s a waste of time.
Next comes the five-minute and 11-second I Now Pronounce You Husband and… Husband?. It features Sandler, James, Biel, and actors Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi and Dan Aykroyd. This is a collection of happy talk comments about how much fun it was to make the film. Regard it as another essentially useless piece.
For the six-minute and 33-second Look Who Stopped By, we hear from Sandler, James, and actors Blake Clark, Allen Covert, Dave Matthews, Dan Patrick, David Spade, Peter Dante, Lance Bass, and Robert Smigel. This one looks at movie’s many cameos. Should you expect any substance? Nope. It simply lathers praise on all involved and tells us nothing of value.
Stop, Drop and Roll goes for five minutes, 24 seconds, and includes Sandler, James, Dugan, actor Brad Grunberg, stunt double John Clay Scott, and stunt coordinator Doug Coleman. We get some minor notes about shooting the fire sequences, but there’s little substance. Sure, it’s better than the others, but movie clips dominate and precious little information emerges.
Finally, Dugan: The Hands-on Director runs five minutes, 36 seconds and presents comments from Sandler, James, Dante, Biel, Aykroyd, Rhames, Dugan, Buscemi and actor Nick Turturro. We hear a little about the director and see his work on the set. Once again, fluff rules the day. A few of the shots from the production are interesting, but no quality facts pop up in this dull program.
A few ads open the DVD. We get promos for American Pie Presents Beta House, Bring It On: In It to Win It, White Noise 2, Saturday Night Live and HD-DVD. No trailer for Pronounce appears here.
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry takes a pretty lame premise and turns it into an even less intriguing film. Packed with cheap gags, nary a laugh can be found. The DVD offers decent to good picture and audio. While we get a fairly long roster of extras, most aren’t very useful. This ends up as a mediocre release for a truly terrible movie.
