Rob Schneider and the troubles of Chuck and Larry

Two news bits about Rob Schneider and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry hit my newsfeeds this week.

First, Asian Week magazine named Schneider's prosthetic-wearing performance as a Japanese rabbi at number five in its list of the 25 Most Infamous Yellow Face Film Performances. The short write-up on Chuck and Larry concludes, "For a film that argues for the rights of gays, it’s even more disappointing that the message of acceptance does not extend to Asians." Considering how controversial the film was with gay filmgoers (a debate our own Brian Juergens covered in his recap of the Year in Queer Film), I found that comment rather interesting. While Chuck and Larry tried to make amends for making its gays the butt of most of their jokes by having Sandler's character denounce anti-gay teasing, there's no counterpart offered to Schneider's offensive performance.

The bigger story, however, is that a lawsuit claiming that I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry stole from the 2004 film Strange Bedfellows where Australian actors Paul Hogan and Michael Caton play straight firemen who pretend to be a gay couple in order to get government benefits.

The lawsuit points an accusatory finger at Rob Schneider, who received a copy of Bedfellows from Caton while the two actors worked together on The Animal. According to the complaint, Schneider gave that copy to Adam Sandler. The lawsuit doesn't address claims that Chuck and Larry was in development before Bedfellows' release, so it'll be interesting to see how that one progresses.

I wonder if Schneider's PR rep is debating which is the worse accusation -- to have helped keep a racist relic from the past alive or stealing a script? I guess they're both easier to handle than the usual accusations of not being funny.