I Think I Love My Wife (Movie 2007): Insufferable Rock Comedy

I Think I Love My Wife movie with Chris Rock, Kerry Washington, and Gina Torres. Made for a reported $11 million, this Chris Rock effort was a critical and commercial bomb, collecting $12.5 million at the domestic box office. Internationally, it was all but ignored.

I Think I Love My Wife (movie 2007) review: Chris Rock comedy about marriage and the seven-year itch is a monumental failure

In case you’ve just wrapped up your wedding rehearsal and you’re planning on taking your future spouse to a movie, make sure to avoid Chris Rock’s latest one-man vehicle I Think I Love My Wife. This fairly depressing story about a married man bored out of his mind is nothing more than a simplistic drag about the lows of marriage and the secret desire to be single again.

Loosely based on Éric Rohmer’s 1972 French comedy Chloe in the Afternoon / L’amour l’après-midi, I Think I Love My Wife stars Rock as Richard Cooper, a wealthy New York City investment banker who claims he leads a perfect life until finally admitting that his seven-year marriage to Brenda (Gina Torres) is both tedious and sexless.

Deprived of attention and passion at home, Richard, who spends his lunch breaks at Saks observing other women, concludes that “no matter how much you try to look the other way, temptation is always staring you in the face.”

Richard himself must fight temptation when he bumps into his old friend Nikki (Kerry Washington), a young, attractive chain-smoker who regularly shows up at his office and helps him rediscover the fun side of life. Of course, Richard forgets to mention any of this to Brenda, a lapse that can only lead to trouble.

Multitasking failure

I Think I Love My Wife marks Chris Rock’s second attempt to score a hit as actor, screenwriter, and director, following his political satire Head of State.

Yet I Think I Love My Wife lacks the sophistication that is required when approaching the complex theme of marriage. Instead, the film persistently brings forward the stereotypical view that marriage obstructs a man’s access to personal freedom.

Throughout it all, Rock takes only the male side, justifying a married man’s right to peek at and fantasize about other women due to the omnipresence of temptation. Consequently, the plot suffers from unimaginative repetitiveness: Richard meets Nikki; Richard has the time of his life; Richard goes home to his boring wife; Richard struggles not to commit adultery.

Chris Rock worse than unfunny

I Think I Love My Wife tries to take itself much too seriously, but it offers us nothing we don’t already know. The screenplay, which Rock co-wrote with Louis C.K., lacks both laughs and depth. It does, however, include a couple of misplaced oddities, such as a ridiculous sequence in which a post-Viagra erection forces Richard to call an ambulance.

Chris Rock may be an excellent stand-up comedian and a decent actor, but in I Think I Love My Wife his performance is worse than unfunny – it’s lifeless. Gina Torres and Kerry Washington face a similar predicament with their non-roles.

In this age of high divorce rates, many people might indeed relate to the crisis depicted in I Think I Love My Wife. But for their own sake, this reviewer can only hope they will not follow Chris Rock’s way of thinking.

I Think I Love My Wife (movie 2007) cast & crew

Director: Chris Rock.

Screenplay: Chris Rock & Louis C.K.
From Éric Rohmer’s screenplay for Chloe in the Afternoon.

Cast: Chris Rock. Kerry Washington. Gina Torres. Steve Buscemi. Edward Herrmann.

“I Think I Love My Wife (Movie 2007): Insufferable Rock Comedy” review text © Franck Tabouring; excerpt, image captions, bullet point introduction, and notes © Alt Film Guide.

“I Think I Love My Wife (Movie 2007): Insufferable Rock Comedy” notes

I Think I Love My Wife movie box office gross via boxofficemojo.com.

Kerry Washington, Gina Torres, and Chris Rock I Think I Love My Wife movie image: Fox Searchlight Pictures.

“I Think I Love My Wife (Movie 2007): Insufferable Rock Comedy” last updated in April 2023.