(Long Island, N.Y.) I Love You, Man, a comedy starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, came as a complete surprise to me- it was very, very good. Bear in mind, I never expected it to be horrible or anything, but the previews I’d seen had lead me to believe that it was yet another in a long line of lame comedies that substitute forced attempts at being over-the-top and outrageous in place of actual wit and charm. However, this is not the case- I Love You, Man, despite the fact that I feel just a little creeped out every time I type its title, is a legitimately funny and entertaining film with very endearing characters…truly a rare find these days, I’ll tell ya.
Here’s the obligatory movie review plot recap to let you know what this thing is all about: Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd), a real estate agent, has just gotten engaged to Zooey (Rashida Jones) after only 8 months of dating. But hey, they’re happy, so let’s be happy for them, okay? Anyway, Peter is that guy we all know who gets so into his girlfriends that he blows off his all male buddies until he has none left. After going directly from girl to girl without a break for his entire adult life, Peter suddenly realizes that he doesn’t actually have anyone to serve as best man at his wedding. Also, no one with whom to ogle women, trade fart jokes, or drink until he projectile vomits- you know, the time-honored traditions only men can experience with one another.
After overhearing the darling, supportive Zooey and her wonderful friends making fun of his lack of friends behind his back, Peter decides it’s time to change things. No, he doesn’t dump Zooey, but he does the next best thing: he sets out on a quest to find a new friend and potential best man. After several disastrous attempts at recruiting prospective pals at his brother’s gym and blind “man-dates” (another creepy term) set up through his mother, Peter is about to give up on the whole friend thing in favor of concentrating his efforts on selling a house that belongs to D-list Hollywood celebrity Lou “Big Green Man” Ferrigno.
As an aside, in our society women indeed have the advantage when it comes to making friends with strangers of the same sex, as they don’t have to deal with the macho window dressing that men do. A woman can form a life-long bond with another woman over a random conversation about a handbag or a pair of shoes. Men striking up conversations with other men are often simply mistaken as gay (which actually happens to our unfortunate protagonist at one point in I Love You, Man). It’s a bit unfair, but hey, that’s life.
So, Peter holds an open house for Ferrigno’s crib for prospective buyers, and it’s here that he finally meets Mr. Right, so to speak. Enter Sydney Fife (Jason Segel), an odd, laid-back, and extremely blunt investor at the open house just for the yummy gourmet sandwiches offered. The two hit it off and start hanging out, drinking, eating fish tacos (get your mind out of the gutter, Peter’s loyal to his gal), and jamming to Rush tunes in Sydney’s garage. All seems well at first, but as Peter spends more time with his new pal, he starts taking on more stereotypical male traits that were previously absent (like randomly playing air guitar and blowing off exciting evenings watching HBO with his fiancee). Zooey, at first in favor of Peter’s quest for friendship, is now starting to feel neglected (women are never happy!). And while problems start surfacing in their relationship, let’s not forget Lou Ferrigno, who’s getting annoyed at how long it’s taking Peter to sell his house. Hey Lou, do you pay attention to the economy? It’s not a seller’s market right now. Chill.
Anyway, can Peter find a balance between love, friendship, and business, or will his new, evolved lifestyle just mess everything up he’s worked for thus far?
Like I said in the opening paragraph of this review, I Love You, Man is a really good movie. It’s been a while that I’ve seen a comedy that was consistently fun from start to end with no dry spells at all. No, there’s no huge, gut-busting laughs, but I was chuckling and smiling pretty much non-stop the whole time, and I’ll take that over one or two big payoffs amid long stretches of pain anytime. It helps a lot that the cast as a whole are (as also mentioned above) uniformly endearing and mesh wonderfully with one another. Paul Rudd comes across as a very sweet and likable guy, and Jason Segel avails himself as a roguish misfit who refuses to grow up completely. Rashida Jones, meanwhile, does a good job of playing a typical girl…sorry, but there’s not much else to say about her, other than she’d be cuter with a better haircut.
Of the supporting cast, the standouts to me are the awesome J. K. Simmons as Peter’s father and Jon Favreau as the jerk husband of one of Zooey’s friends. I think Simmons is especially underused, and so will you after you see the dinner scene early in the film he completely steals. And a shout-out to my personal friend, Bobby C, for his cameo as a bodybuilder on Venice Beach that almost beats up Sydney after he fails to curb his pooch. I told you that you’d make it, buddy!
I honestly can’t find much of anything to dislike about I Love You, Man, aside from the title of the movie. It’s very well paced without an instant of boredom, it has a somewhat fresh and unique premise (which is especially deserving of credit in this day and age where every film is basically the same), and it manages to be genuinely funny without resorting to lame shock tactics or assaulting you with non-stop pop culture references that will be hopelessly dated in 6 months. If I had to complain about anything, I guess it would have to be the rampant product placement that permeates almost every second of the movie’s run-time, especially when it comes to Apple products. I Love You, Man is essentially a feature-length commercial for the iPhone, to the point where the title could have been changed to “I Love You, iPhone” and no one would have noticed. HBO gets major props as well, with several attempts to awkwardly shoehorn it into the dialogue. But this is just nit-picking, as almost every film nowadays is guilty of this.
So, in closing, I Love You, Man is one of the most enjoyable comedies I’ve seen in a while and well worth your time. Check it out.
