I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, co-starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James, is a tasteless comedy that suffers from terrible direction and a dreadful screenplay. Sandler gives a loud, obnoxious performance -- and James comes across merely as his straight man, like Abbott was to Costello.    

Chuck Levine (Sandler), a Brooklyn firefighter, is fortunate to be alive after being trapped in an inferno. Chuck’s friend and fellow firefighter Larry Valentine (James) risked his own life to save him. If he hadn’t, Chuck would have perished. Grateful to be alive, Chuck pledges to repay Larry.

Larry ponders whether to remain a firefighter or resign from his position. He became increasingly paranoid, thinking he would be killed in a fire after his wife died of cancer several years ago. He is the sole provider to 7-year-old daughter Tori (Shelby Adamowsky) and 10-year-old son Eric (Cole Morgen). Larry remains a firefighter and tries to remove his wife’s name as the beneficiary on his pension. Imagine how flabbergasted he becomes when informed he cannot remove her name and replace it with Tori and Eric’s. Evidently, Larry was given a year to change his beneficiary from his wife to his children after her death. He was sent multiple letters asking him to send in documents needed to make a permanent change on his record. Too distressed to fill the forms out, Larry trashed them instead. The only way Larry can change his beneficiary is to get married again or sign documents stating he is in a gay domestic partnership.

Agitated his children won’t have a guardian or enough funds if he dies, Larry hatches a plan. He coerces Chuck into signing legal documents making him Larry’s domestic partner. Chuck had refused to sign the form until forced to recall the vow he made earlier. Larry assures Chuck that nobody -- except he and his kids -- will ever know he signed this form. Larry’s plan begins unraveling when a city inspector shows up at his door unannounced just as Chuck is coming over. Apparently, anyone who lists a same-sex beneficiary on pension documents is scrupulously investigated for fraud.

Countless individuals have been sent to prison for masquerading as same-sex partners in order to collect government benefits. If found out, Chuck and Larry could face prison along with anyone else involved in their scam. Petrified, they consult Alex McDonough (Jessica Biel) for legal assistance.

Alex instructs them to be weary of Clinton Fitzer (Steve Buscemi), an unscrupulous investigator, for he’s sure to start poking around their neighborhood. Fitzer thrives on putting people like Chuck and Larry in jail for fraud. The only way to get rid of Fitzer involves having irrefutable proof they are indeed gay, so Chuck and Larry decide to head to Canada and get legally married. They must now live together and convince everyone they are gay, which is increasingly hard to do because Chuck is such a womanizer.

I just couldn’t relate to Sandler’s repugnant character here, so I’m not surprised to learn that Alexander Payne, one of the screenwriters, left this project early on because he was upset with Sandler’s performance. I understand he even initially asked producers not to credit him as a writer. I think Payne had the right idea about this one.

 (Released by Universal Pictures and rated "PG-13" for crude sexual content throughout, nudity, language and drug references.)