Chris Rock's title troubles

By Tom Tapp

After a bout of Oscar burnout, I've been going to the movies again.

Not screenings, but movies -- with real audiences. Scary.

And I've been watching trailers. Even scarier.

From the cheap seats, Hollywood's had some title troubles of late, such as the S&M-sounding; "Reign Over Me," starring Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle. Or, for instance, Chris Rock's "I Think I Love My Wife."

Based on that title alone, who's the audience for the film?

Is it a romantic comedy? If so, as "The Breakup" taught us, it's tough to do a date movie about romantic dissolution. It's too cerebral for most men. It could also lead to the kind of lose-lose questions no man wants to hear:

"Do you find other women attractive?"

"Do you ever think about old girlfriends?"

And what woman wants to think about her man leaving him?

To be fair, I haven't seen the film. And The New York Times' A.O. Scott seems to love it:

"Mr. Rock has not only done his best work as a director and screenwriter but has also made an unusually insightful and funny mainstream American movie about the predicaments of modern marriage.

Audiences didn't agree.

The film opened in 5th place this weekend, with $5.5 million. That's behind holdovers "300" and "Wild Hogs" and another movie, "Dead Silence," which stars a dummy. And it's no wonder.

As a newly returned cineplex cinephile, if I have a choice between a film that could cause a fight and, say, a comic book-style picture about bare-chested men fighting each other, I'm going with the violent, naked guys.

At least there's a chance my wife may like that.