I Love You, Man

Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) is a real estate agent, and his girlfriend Zooey Rice (Rashida Jones) just accepted his marriage proposal. Everything is looking great, but then she along with her friends start to notice that he has no male friends. He goes on a search for a best friend and encounters Sydney Fife (Jason Segel) at one of his open house.

It's a little awkward at the start before Jason Segel. It has some funny moments especially with Thomas Lennon and throwing up on Jon Favreau. But Paul Rudd solo desperately needs a wing man. That's what the movie is about. But the comedy is hit and miss without it. Rudd and Segal have good chemistry. Mostly it works well. There are some good funny jokes in this.

Though you won't find the name Judd Apatow on this film at all, he certainly has a hand in it, as his influence is all over the film. However, unlike most of the movies that can certainly be grouped with this one, 'I Love You, Man' is a movie almost anyone can enjoy, even women and kids. It's the lightest, warmest, and the best for buddies of either sex to see. It's a delightful comedy that will make you laugh throughout and brighten your day.

Whether it be the great buddy chemistry between the leads, or the simply hysterical supporting cast, I found myself loving this movie. Like director John Hamburg's previous effort, 'Along Came Polly', the movie is incredibly likable because it relies on the awkward humor that Paul Rudd does pretty much perfectly, playing off the happy-go-lucky humor of Jason Segel.

Rudd is likable and reliable as usual in a role showcasing the best of his abilities (I really can't say how happy I am that he's finally getting leading roles), and unlike in 'Role Models', he's the undisputed lead here. Segel is a character in Rudd's story, his life, and his journey to find a friend, and essentially, become a complete person before his life changes for the better. Segel is at his best in a role as what appears to be the perfect friend (I would hang out with this guy for days). Rashida Jones is adorable and likable as Rudd's fiancé, and it's a role that most actresses would've over done (Jaime Pressly's performance should remind people of how it could've been over done), and Jones plays it with an ease that makes her likable.

The supporting cast is what makes the movie great. It's the foundation of characters played by Thomas Lennon, Joe Lo Truglio, Jon Favreau, Jaime Pressly, and Andy Samberg that completes the movie and makes it worth watching (because, let's face it, the movie wouldn't be that great if Rudd and Segel just sat around bro-ing out for 2 hours). Lennon and Truglio are hilarious as candidates for Peter's best man position, and Lennon will bring down the house as Doug, with his classic monologue about how he feels when his advances towards Peter are rejected. Truglio is great in yet another small cameo that stacks up with his previous appearances in 'Pineapple Express' and 'Superbad', as well as the icing on the cake that was 'Role Models' (he's an example of the whole "everyone will like this movie" thing. Jon Favreau is hysterical in his part as a cynical ass that makes you go, "this guy directed 'Iron Man'?".

I think the reason most people will like this one is because it'll put a smile on most people's faces. It's a generally happy movie that is a good movie to see in a group to start off a night, and is even a decent date movie. It's got jokes that even kids can like (though most of the film is obviously not appropriate for them...what I'm saying is if they HAVE to see one of these movies, this is the one for them). I really enjoyed this movie, it left a good taste in my mouth, and my friends loved it too.

Funny movies have to be funny. That's the only rule about funny movies. They don't have to live up to any expectations, they can be about the same thing that movies always are. It really doesn't matter. As long as they are funny.

I Love You, Man is a funny movie. In case the plot is of any interest to you, it's about this guy (Paul Rudd) who is getting married to this woman (Rashida Jones), but he realizes that he doesn't really have any male friends to fill out his side of the wedding party. So he starts on a quest with the aid of his brother (Andy Samberg) to find a best man. When he finally thinks he finds one (Jason Segel), hilarity ensues.

On the spectrum of comedies, this is a bro movie. One made basically for guys, a little raunchy. But honestly, it's not too R-rated. It cusses a bit, discusses sex a lot, things like that. But not nearly as R-rated as say... Role Models, which I feel is sort of along the same lines. Comparable at least. They are both very funny movies, and both have Paul Rudd.

But this is about I Love You, Man. The highlight of the movie, for me, is Thomas Lennon as Doug. I have been a fan of his for a long time, at least since Reno 911 came out. Which is a brilliant show. Paul Rudd is very, very cute, but not always convincing, the same with Rashida Jones as his fiancée. It's a movie that Ben Stiller would have made if he were younger. Jason Segel does what Jason Segel does. He plays his role very capably as Sydney, the crazed friend.

And that is I Love You, Man. It's a rather simple, but funny movie.

I Love You, Man may feel like another Apatow company production, but it's mostly because some of its "stock" company players (I put quotes as it's both a loose term and just about right) like Paul Rudd and Jason Siegel. They give the air of using the screenplay as the easiest of diving boards into just shooting-the-hell-of-it with one another as two friends. Rudd plays a guy about to get married and is embarrassed to find out, from all those around him more than anything, that he doesn't have many, or really any, true friends. He meets Siegel at an open house for Lou Ferrigno (he's a real estate agent and Ferrigno fills the oddball cameo choice, it's a great choice though), and the two hit it off as a "bromance" develops.

It's this "bromance" that makes I Love You, Man a little interesting as a double-edged romantic comedy. It's already about Rudd and his to-be played by Rashida Jones, their little moments of fun and their arguments too (there's a cute running gag involving Rudd's imitations of the band Rush sounding like an Irishman), but then it's also got plenty of innuendo to this being really about the guys, how Siegel gets attached to Rudd in that way that surely isn't gay but is more than just casual acquaintance stuff (see his "investment" plan unfold). But truth be told it's not even this that makes I Love You, Man so funny.

Rudd and Siegel are simply funny guys, but naturally so; there's a new trend to put a somewhat straight face on gross out gags in these movies, Apatow or its spin-off groups (one can equate it to the good rip-offs of Tarantino in the 90s to a certain extent), and it works very well here. It's like a sweet blending of Curb Your Enthusiasm awkwardness (if, of course, nowhere near the genius of that, especially with story) and some of the low-brow Adam Sandler stuff and joyfully useless banter and non-jock male bonding. It's not any better or lessor than recent stuff from Siegel and Rudd; you could watch this with either Forgetting Sarah Marshall or Role Models and be satisfied about the same. Again, plot is not at all the strong suit, but if you just want some cleverly obvious comedy dialog it's a good detour.

At the least, we get one of the funniest lines of the year, or just in years, near the very end: "I love you... Broseph Goebbels!"

Kevin Klaven (Paul Rudd) hasn't a friend in the world - or so he realizes when he becomes engaged to Zooey (Rashida Jones) and finds he can't come up with a single male buddy to be in his wedding party. The solution? Go out and make some platonic guy friends, even if it means having to rely on your mommy (Jane Curtin) and your gay younger brother (Andy Samberg) to help you do it. Eventually, after a number of faltering attempts, Kevin alights on Sydney (Jason Segel), a mucho macho bundle of testosterone who, like a latter-day Henry Higgins to Kevin's Eliza Doolittle, instructs the awkward lad on the fine art of "being a man." But as with any good teacher/pupil relationship, each side winds up learning a little something from the other before it's all over.

A straight man far more comfortable in the company of women than of men, Kevin emerges as the ultimate metrosexual figure: fastidious in demeanor, sensitive to the needs of others, and courteous to a fault (he even admits to liking "The Devil Wears Prada" in a moment of unguarded weakness). He doesn't really know how to roughhouse it with the boys, and any efforts he makes in that direction inevitably lead to failure. Until our man Sydney steps into the breach to give him a few badly needed pointers, that is.

Smoothly directed by John Hamburg, "I Love You, Man" is a relaxed, breezy and sharply written male-bonding comedy that - miracle of miracles - doesn't play down to its audience (it may be crude at times, but it's rarely childish). The Hamburg/Larry Levin screenplay does a clever job poking fun at the double entendres inherent in any modern-day bromance, though one wishes certain characters - Kevin's family members, in particular - had been allotted a little more in the way of screen time. That being said, the performances are all first-rate, with Rudd and Segel playing to their respective strengths - Rudd's of the tongue-tied, self-effacing Mr. Nice Guy who needs lessons in "manning up," and Segel's of the refreshingly blunt but socially indelicate Man/Child who clearly needs to do some growing up.

There's additional excellent work from J.K. Simmons, Jamie Pressly, Sarah Burns and Rob Huebel, among others.

It's also a bit of a casting coup to get both Jane Curtin from the first generation of SNL players and Andy Samberg from the current one together in the same film. Finally, some unlikely cameo appearances by Lou Ferrigno and the band Rush, all appearing as themselves, add to the spirit of fun that permeates the film.