Published: March 14, 2007 03:14 pm         

Rock has something to say with ‘Wife,’ but still lacks finesse

Film review

Chris Rock says his latest film, “I Think I Love My Wife,” is a more accurate reflection of who he is. It’s more realistic, more introspective, more subdued.

As director, co-writer and star, he’s drawn his inspiration from French director Eric Rohmer’s 1972 film “Chloe in the Afternoon,” which is unexpected in itself.

So you have to at least appreciate that the Brooklyn-born comic is trying to do something different. Trouble is: His movie isn’t all that funny even when it’s aiming to be.

Directing for just the second time following 2003’s “Head of State,” Rock is still too stiff and clunky as a filmmaker. Writing alongside longtime friend and fellow comedian Louis C.K. (who directed Rock’s “Pootie Tang”), he definitely has something to say about marriage, race and the black upper-middle class, some of the same subjects he’s mined in his stand-up routine. He just doesn’t say it with much finesse. He relies too heavily on voiceover (which is more effective in his TV series “Everybody Hates Chris”) and the script feels too contrived.

Rock stars as New York investment banker Richard Cooper. He’s slightly nerdy, married with two kids and bored with the routine of his life in suburbia, where he fears his family doesn’t associate enough with other black people. (ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith shows up in a dinner scene as a friend of the couple and he’s surprisingly tolerable, probably because someone else was writing his lines.)

Richard and his smart, beautiful wife, Brenda (Gina Torres), have fallen into the same rut so many longtime married couples find themselves in: They don’t have sex that much anymore. No particular reason — they’re still in love. They just don’t particularly feel like it, or they’re tired, or it’s a hassle.

The lack of physical satisfaction becomes acutely obvious to Richard upon the arrival of Nikki (Kerry Washington as a va-va-va-voomy femme fatale), the sexy ex of an old friend. She shows up at his office out of nowhere looking to use Richard as a reference for a new job, and then keeps coming back day after day in a dizzying array of barely there outfits. (And Washington is indeed a spectacle to behold.)

Nikki is classically needy and troubled and repeatedly runs to Richard to rescue her from various jams. He knows it’s probably wrong but he likes the attention and is drawn to the fact that she’s dangerous. Why she’s so damaged is never developed that well; she’s more of a concept, a symbol, and so it’s not always easy to believe her as a human being.

They go to lunch, run errands and play hooky from work. The most ridiculous of these interludes involves her tricking him into flying to Washington with her to clear some clothes out of an ex-boyfriend’s apartment. And while she tempts him to stray, nothing ever happens.

Nevertheless, his work begins to suffer because he’s so all-over-the-place, and colleagues become suspicious of Nikki constantly hanging around. (Except for one, a habitual philanderer played by an underused Steve Buscemi in a refreshingly different role.) Although the relationship is chaste, Richard naturally can’t tell his wife about his newfound friendship, and so it’s as if he’s having an affair anyway with none of the fun.

When the inevitable will-he-or-won’t-he moment comes, there’s some genuine suspense. But since this is the serious, mature side of Rock, you can probably figure it out for yourself.

“I Think I Love My Wife,” a Fox Searchlight release, is rated R for pervasive language and some sexual content. Running time: 94 minutes. Two stars out of four.

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Motion Picture Association of America rating definitions:

G — General audiences. All ages admitted.

PG — Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

PG-13 — Special parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.

R — Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

NC-17 — No one under 17 admitted.