The trailer for I Love You, Man is one of the funnier trailers to hit theaters in the last year. Some of its gags are funny enough to serve as the best bits of most comedies. In I Love You, Man, they are but a taste [I haven’t laughed so hard at a movie since Superbad!].
The film creates a new Odd Couple for the 21st Century – Peter Klaven [Paul Rudd], a vaguely metrosexual real estate guy who is slight, uptight and definitely not outta sight; and Sydney Fife [Jason Segal], a big, gangly, good-natured goof whose good with investments but otherwise the slob to end all slobs. The set up, as explained in the trailer, is that Peter is getting to married to his girlfriend of eight months, Zooey Rice [Rashida Jones] – but he has no male friends and is, thus, shy one Best Man.
When Peter overhears Zooey’s best girlfriends – including Denise [Jaime Pressly], and Hailey [Sarah Burns] – wondering if maybe he’s not just a little weird, he decides to do something about it. A genuinely montage follows as Peter seeks advice from his gay brother, Robbie [Andy Samberg], on finding a friend. Cue the montage of his pitiful attempts to take his brother’s advice – a genuinely hilarious montage, I might add.
Then, at an open house to showcase Lou Ferrigno’s home, he meets the charmingly blunt Sydney and they click on that “bro” level immediately. The two bonds over the best fish tacos in town – and the music of Rush. Before you know it, the two are spending so much time together, that Zooey begins to feel left out.
I Love You, Man works on a number of levels: the bromance between Peter and Sydney; the romance between Peter and Zooey; the gross-out comedy with fart and vomit jokes; the genuine sweetness in the development of the relationships. The script [co-written by director John Hamburg] is clever and insightful and the various levels of humor seem to perfectly balance the moments of drama that arise naturally out of the characters and their situations, and Hamburg’s direction is so good that he makes it sing.
I have no idea who coined the term “bromance,” but it has come to be associated with the films of Judd Apatow. I Love You, Man is a terrific, non-Judd Apatow Judd Apatow movie.
Final Grade: A
“I Love You, Man” tells the story of a man who has decided to marry but has really no friends to participate at the wedding. He decides to recruit some, with amusing results. There are many familiar faces in this off-beat adult comedy. There are some laughs plus some flat and some repetitive scenes. An enjoyable mixed bag, but not something for a first date.
GRADE = “B-“