OKAY, I admit I laughed a couple of times - not bad going for an Adam Sandler movie - and felt duly ashamed of myself. But this is a comedy that doesn't have the guts to be truly offensive and is consequently a lot funnier.

The potential is there as two Brooklyn firefighters pretend to be gay and married to claim insurance benefits for the children of one of them. It delivers every homosexual joke and stereotype, including a protracted dropping the soap in the shower scene, before backtracking and delivering a message saying being gay is fine and the makers were only joking.

I've never found Sandler that funny, and the hit-and-miss success of his films with British audiences would seem to suggest I'm not alone. The Wedding Singer was good and in his last one, Reign Over Me, he proved he could do serious stuff.

Chuck And Larry represents a backward step, despite a pleasing partnership with Kevin James, best known to TV audiences as the star of The King Of Queens and who teamed well with Will Smith in the comedy Hitch.

The film is also offensive to women, treated as no more than sex objects. Sandler's character is a babe magnet who enjoys six-in-a-bed romps and who, under the guise of being gay, gets to grope the breasts of Biel, playing the attorney looking after the interests of the gay couple.

Best of all is Dan Akyroyd, who makes every one of his scenes count as the fire station chief.

Stars: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Jessica Biel, Wing Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Dan Aykroyd
Running time: 115 mins
Rating: Two stars