Comedy has a long history of muddying the sexual waters, whether it’s Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis dressing in drag, Dustin Hoffman doing whatever it takes to land an acting job, Jason Biggs humping an apple pie or Steve Carell slowly navigating the exit ramp of submissively accepted virginity. The exquisitely unfunny new comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry — which descends to stultifying, almost pathologically twisted levels to assert its heterosexuality — purports to examine clichés of gay lifestyle, and then conclude in positive fashion that we should all be tolerant of one another’s private lives. But it’s actually so caught up in tweaking well-trodden territory of air-quote prissiness that it manages to do nothing more than make narrow-minded guys feel pretty good about the fact that they don’t actually use the term “faggot” in mixed company anymore, as one character herein initially does.

Any amount of nuance or small comedy of sociological insight in Sideways and About Schmidt scribes Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne’s original screenplay is reduced to mere vestiges in this incarnation, strangled to within an inch of its life by erstwhile The Golden Girls show runner Barry Fanaro and a passel of uncredited rewrite doctors. If Chuck & Larry were merely a schlubby, down-market comedy, that’d be one thing. It awkwardly crams in a few humanistic soapbox monologues, though, in fitful starts and stops. The film’s basic story credibility isn’t much better, burdened with risible leaps of logic and inconsistency. The humor is desultory, as if from a lazily written sitcom where character motivations shift to fit whatever introduction or extrication a particular scene requires.

Just as Speed 2: Cruise Control circuitously affirmed the genius of Keanu Reeves (sometimes the best movies are the ones you don’t make), Chuck & Larry serves as a testament to Will Smith’s savvy and judgment. It was Smith, after all, who was first approached about teaming up with Sandler, but he passed — recommending in his stead his Hitch co-star James. Well played, Mr. Smith… well played. For the full review, from FilmStew, click here. (Universal, PG-13, 110 minutes)