I Think I Love My Wife (2007) * * *

 

Directed by:  Chris Rock

Starring:  Chris Rock, Kerry Washington, Gina Torres, Stephen A. Smith, Steve Buscemi, Edward Herrmann, Michael Kenneth Williams

Chris Rock plays Richard Cooper, a married man with a great-paying job at a Manhattan financial company and a wife and kids.  He and the Mrs. haven't had sex in a while because she's just too darn tired from working as a teacher and raising the kids.  Richard doesn't know it yet, but he's ripe for temptation which comes in the form of Nikki Tru (Washington), a former girlfriend of Richard's old buddy.  Nikki has a bod for sin, to quote Working Girl.   She drops by Richard's work, coaxes him into meeting daily for lunch, and this causes gossip to spread around the office quickly.  Nikki must spend a lot of money on cigarettes, since she is suggestively sucking on one in nearly every scene.  (Yuck).

Richard admits he's bored and is open to a possibility of an affair with Nikki.  He doesn't outwardly do anything, but he holds his hand close to the flame, such as going to lunch with Nikki, going shopping with her on his lunch hour, and taking an ill-advised trip to Washington, DC to help her clear out of the rest of her belongings from her old apartment because she insists her ex-boyfriend is out of town.  No points for guessing that he isn't and things take a wrong turn quickly.  Almost as surely as night follows day, Richard will be in Manhattan on the weekend with his wife and run into Nikki.  Richard tries to break it off, but finds he's a goner when Nikki pleads with him and gives him the puppy-dog eyes.

I Think I Love My Wife is Rock's best movie among those he has directed.   He plays a likable guy caught up in temptation of which he can't, or doesn't want to, free himself.   In that regard, I Think I Love My Wife is engaging and funny with a keen insight into the male mind.   We also meet Richard's polar opposite, his co-worker George (Buscemi), who has a wife and a mistress and is perfectly happy.  Richard might even envy George, not because he has a side piece, but because it doesn't bother him.