Rating:

What's a guy to do?

That's the situation in ''I Think I Love My Wife,” Chris Rock's Americanized version of the 1972 Eric Rohmer film ''Chloe in the Afternoon.” Rock, who co-wrote the new screenplay and directed, plays the husband; Gina Torres plays the wife; and Kerry Washington plays the temptress.

My inner pig thinks this movie should be called ''I Think I Love Kerry Washington.” The actress, whose credits include ''Ray” and ''The Last King of Scotland,” steals the picture as seductive ''old friend” Nikki Tru, who re-enters the life of family man Richard Cooper (Rock) and threatens to destroy his home life and banking career. It's not just that she's beautiful; Washington's Nikki also has a certain sexy charisma that makes it easy to believe that Richard would allow her to create so much trouble in his life.

For that reason, the movie also could be called ''Squirm,” since that's what we do as we watch Richard jeopardize everything by allowing Nikki to seduce him into spending an inordinate amount of time with her. It begins when Nikki visits Richard out of the blue one day, then keeps showing up at his office and getting him to go out for little afternoon adventures. The secretaries suddenly are rolling their eyes and talking, a colleague (Steve Buscemi, in a thankless role) warns Richard to be careful, the boss (Edward Herrmann) starts taking notice. But Richard keeps going out with her. They're not doing anything physical, he rationalizes, so are they really doing anything wrong? But if they're not, why does he feel so guilty?

''I Think I Love My Wife” doesn't break any new ground or provide any great insights in dealing with what's become known as ''the seven-year itch.” In fact, the film is more interesting in the subtle way it shows Richard's and wife Brenda's concerns about maintaining their black identity while in business and social environments that are often predominantly white. But it only brings up the subject; it doesn't really deal with it.

What we're left with is a sexy, occasionally funny comedy that suggests, but doesn't really fulfill, comic Rock's potential as a director.

Tim Miller is the Times' entertainment editor. He can be reached at 508-862-1140 or tmiller@capecodonline.com

RATING SCALE: Four stars (best) to bomb (worst)
RATING: R (for pervasive language and some sexual content
RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes