"I LOVE YOU, MAN" (2009) (Paul Rudd, Jason Segel) (R)
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QUICK TAKE:
Comedy: Realizing he has few male friends and is in need of a best man for his upcoming wedding, an unassuming realtor sets out to find a new buddy.
PLOT:
Peter Klaven (PAUL RUDD) is a realtor who tries to be cool when the moment calls for it, but usually fails miserably and awkwardly. Even so, he's managed to attract Zooey Rice (RASHIDA JONES) as his live-in girlfriend, and he's hoping to sell the home of actor Lou Ferrigno (LOU FERRIGNO) in order to raise enough money to develop some land and thus support himself and Zooey to whom he's just proposed. The only problem is that he doesn't promote himself like his more gregarious coworker, Tevin (ROB HUEBEL), and hasn't had any success so far.
His unassuming ways haven't been lost on Zooey's sister, Hailey (SARAH BURNS), or best friend, Denise (JAIME PRESSLY), who can't help but point out that Peter doesn't have many male friends. Then again, Hailey isn't dating anyone, while Denise's husband, Barry (JON FAVREAU), is something of a jerk, especially toward Peter. In fact, Peter's best friend is probably his mom (JANE CURTIN), as his dad (J.K. SIMMONS) points out that their other son, gay physical trainer Robby (ANDY SAMBERG), is one of his two best friends.
Realizing he needs a best man for the wedding, Peter sets out to make some new male friends, but doesn't have much luck as he tries too hard and isn't particularly adept at being cool or hip. Even so, he ends up striking a friendship with investor Sydney Fife (JASON SEGEL) who habitually crashes real estate open houses for the free food and a quest to hook up with divorcees.
A straight-shooter, Sydney becomes best friends with Peter, but their growing friendship begins to put a strain on Peter's relationship with Zooey, particularly when it brings out another side of him that she's never seen before. From that point on, Peter must balance his relationships with both as his and Zooey's wedding date quickly approaches.
OUR TAKE: 4.5 out of 10
Let's face it -- as guys, we'll never understand why women adopt a type of pack mentality when it comes to heading off to the ladies room. Are the drinks cheaper in there, or is some sort of entertainment offered of which men are not aware? It's a well-guarded secret, but a good guess is that it's so the ladies can chat among themselves, without men around to hear or judge them, and that allows them to express their feelings about most anything, including men.
When guys head off to the bathroom, it's rarely together -- in fact, many will avoid such planned or coincidental timing (usually so that they can maintain their macho image and not appear to have any sort of gay tendencies). And if it does happen to occur by accident or coincidence, most will only make small talk, avoid any sort of eye-to-eye contact, and then get out of there as quickly as possibly.
In fact, most straight men -- regardless of how many male friends they might have -- rarely have any sort of heart-to-heart moments -- in the restroom or elsewhere -- with members of the same sex about personal issues, including that involving the opposite sex. That is, outside of bravado and bragging of exploits, conquests and such.
That very issue is brought to life in "I Love You, Man," a comedy about male friends and the quest for such relationships that surprised me by being funnier than I expected it to be, although it's clearly far from brilliant. As directed by John Hamburg from a script he penned with Larry Levin, it tells the tale of an average real estate agent (Paul Rudd in another lovable loser sort of charming and winning performance) who has no close male friends.
With his nuptials to his girlfriend (Rashida Jones) quickly approaching, he's in need of a best man. Yet, his father (J.K. Simmons) has already established that his other, gay son (Andy Samberg) is one of his two best friends, leaving the brothers' mom (Jane Curtin) as the only other option, but her gender rules out her participation in the traditional sense.
While trying to sell the home of bodybuilder/actor Lou Ferrigno (the original Hulk himself, in an extended cameo that isn't quite as funny as it probably could have been), Peter ends up meeting investor Sydney (Jason Segel, the "loser" in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall") who tells/calls it like he sees it, and whose confidence in himself is contagious for our protagonist who's in desperate need of some male bonding.
Sydney's uninhibited behavior, the two characters' interaction, and Peter's attempts to fit in and appear cool (usually via impromptu slang that doesn't always come out or across the way he intended it to sound) provide most of the film's laughs.
The filmmakers are obviously going for the Judd Apatow approach of mixing low-brow, crude and/or sexual humor with goofy if charming characters and a little bit of heart thrown in for good measure. Some of the material works and some doesn't (the running gag of slang terms occasionally hits the mark but ends up becoming repetitive, while all of the material revolving around the rock band Rush goes on too long and doesn't deliver much in return).
Appropriately or not considering the film's focus, the relationships with women and the portrayal of that sex in general isn't fully fleshed out and/or examined. The male bonding part, while delving a bit deeper than most films (and certainly comedies) doesn't exactly plumb any great depths, while the filmmakers don't manage to maintain a constant level of comedic pacing, with highlights ending up sandwiched between some fairly flat moments that rob any sort of building momentum. Nonetheless, there are certainly laughs to be had (of varying degrees of physical reaction on the part of the viewer), and certainly far more and sometimes better than I was anticipating.
While they won't likely go down as one of the best male pairings in the annals of buddy movies, Rudd and Segel have a decent and easy comedic chemistry together, and one's preexisting view of them individually or collectively will certainly have an impact on their opinion of the overall film. Not terribly insightful into deep male friendships and/or the lack thereof compared to women, "I Love You, Man" comes off as a decently entertaining diversion, but only enough to earn a rating of 4.5 out of 10.
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