Richard Cooper has got everything a man could wish for. He's a successful investment banker with a beautiful, intelligent wife and two gorgeous kids at home. However there’s only one thing on Richard’s mind - women. He can’t stop thinking about the women he sees on the commuter train in the morning, the women who walk the streets of Manhattan, and the women he fantasizes about in order to relieve the boredom of his mundane routine life. Richard has no intention of actually cheating on his wife until an old friend, the stunning Nikki, appears at his office asking for his help in getting her a job. Richard starts to meet Nikki for late lunches, and his conventional life begins to turn upside down...

I Think I Love My Wife is a comedy co-written, produced, directed and starring Chris Rock as a guy who accidentally starts to fall for another woman. This is loosely based on Éric Rohmer's 1972 French film Love in the Afternoon - which was more of a drama than a comedy.

Fans of Rock who know him best for his countless comedy roles, where he basically plays himself in his own style of over-the-top comedy, will be surprised to learn that he's actually a pretty good actor. He's perfect here as the rather naive individual who doesn't really see that he's being used.

Kerry Washington is great as Nikki, who brings a certain sparkle back into Cooper's life. While the relationship is platonic, Cooper enjoys the thrill that Nikki brings into his life as she helps him to recapture some of the fun he had before he got married. But is she manipulating him in order to get out of the rut she's stuck in?

Gina Torres (Firefly, Serenity) stars as Cooper's wife - a nursery teacher and mother to his two children. Cooper is still very much in love with her, but the original spark has gone out of their relationship. They no longer make love, due to both having too busy a life style. It's this stumbling block that means Cooper starts to constantly fantasise about other women.

Steve Buscemi plays Cooper's work colleague - a womanising, happily married man who offers plenty of advice to Cooper on why his relationship with Nikki shouldn't progress any further. It was interesting to learn, on Rock's audio commentary, that he had to fight to get Buscemi for the role as the studio wanted someone who was more of a heartthrob. But, as Rock points out, in real life it's not looks that make a womaniser, but a man who knows how to charm women.

While this movie is flows well, there was one scene that I thought felt a little out of place. I would have completely cut out the Viagra scene - but not the whole scene, just the farcical section in the ambulance.

Extras are pretty average. We get an in audio commentary from Rock (it was interesting to learn that Coln Powell's daughter plays the marriage councillor and how they came up with the name of the firm that Cooper works for. Other highlights include Rock pointing out the homage to The Graduate, and his belief that no man can hide anything from their wife in their home without her finding it); Alternate and Deleted Scenes (11 min, 11 sec); Bloopers (2 min, 20 sec worth of outtakes. Although to be honest only one of these is really an outtake, the rest are alternate takes of scenes which appeared in the finished movie); Fox Movie Channel Presents: Casting Session (9 min, 5 sec behind the scenes interviews where Rock talks about the casting decisions).

This is a pretty solid romantic comedy with some great acting. Well worth your time. Lets hope that Rock drops his over the top comedy persona and instead steers his future career in similar projects that allow him to show the world that he can act.

8

Charles Packer