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Review: 'I Love You, Man' Has Lots To Love
Segel, Rudd Comedy Hilarious Romp
POSTED: 10:28 am CDT March 20, 2009
'I Love You Man' (R)
(out of four)In "I Love You, Man," male bonding is taken more seriously than male pattern baldness. If you listen to its message, a dude without a best man friend is missing out on all of the important things in life: the best fish tacos, someone to share air guitar moments with and the inevitable good friend who puts his foot in his mouth at his buddy's expense.All of this is what makes "I Love You, Man" laugh-out-loud funny, original and doggone worthwhile in its quirkiness. (More on the dog, later.)Cut from the Judd Apatow school of crassness (although Apatow isn't responsible for this film, he probably would like to have been), Paul Rudd plays Peter Klaven, a nice guy Los Angeles real estate salesman who has just landed his first celebrity listing, and has big dreams for commercial development.In his personal life, he's engaged to Zooey (the amiable Rashida Jones), which makes him realize, as she and her gaggle of girlfriends plan for her wedding, that he has no male friends and thus no best man, unless his mother (Jane Curtin) fills in. After he concocts a tray full of root-beer floats for the girls, he concurs that he must embrace his manhood and sets out on his alpha male journey.He asks for help from his gay brother, Robbie (Andy Samberg), who knows how to get a guy, whether they are gay or straight. One of the platonic suitors for Peter is a high-voiced soccer nut who reminds Peter of Elmo. A dinner date leads to a misunderstanding, with Peter getting a deep throated kiss from a guy named Doug.After some fits and starts, and an excruciatingly painful beer guzzling game in which Peter throws up on the party host, he's all but given up -- until he meets Sydney Fife (Jason Segel of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall").Fife could have written the book on how to be a guy's guy. He guzzles beer, wears cargo pants and Ugg boots complimented with a John Coltrane T-shirt, and refuses to pick up his dog's poop on the Venice Beach boardwalk, claiming it is meant to be natural compost. He's the genial Shaggy from "Scooby Doo," and perhaps just the right fit to teach Peter some lessons in machismo.Peter takes to Fife's laid back lifestyle: a beach house with its own "man cave," in which exists a real rock band set up of guitars and drums, and a sound system that can pipe in Rush for karaoke-style jams.As the bonding starts to stick like Krazy Glue, tension begins building between Peter and Zooey. While it's all very predictable, there are priceless uncomfortable moments including a too-close-for-comfort toast made by best man Fife at the engagement dinner, and Peter's lame attempts throughout to be hip including nicknames for Sydney that never quite work.In the capable hands of writer-director John Hamberg ("Along Came Polly"), "I Love You, Man" never panders or pokes fun. It just allows its characters to be human and offers up a bromantic comedy that's a buddy picture for the 21st century. What's not to love, man?
(out of four)In "I Love You, Man," male bonding is taken more seriously than male pattern baldness. If you listen to its message, a dude without a best man friend is missing out on all of the important things in life: the best fish tacos, someone to share air guitar moments with and the inevitable good friend who puts his foot in his mouth at his buddy's expense.All of this is what makes "I Love You, Man" laugh-out-loud funny, original and doggone worthwhile in its quirkiness. (More on the dog, later.)Cut from the Judd Apatow school of crassness (although Apatow isn't responsible for this film, he probably would like to have been), Paul Rudd plays Peter Klaven, a nice guy Los Angeles real estate salesman who has just landed his first celebrity listing, and has big dreams for commercial development.In his personal life, he's engaged to Zooey (the amiable Rashida Jones), which makes him realize, as she and her gaggle of girlfriends plan for her wedding, that he has no male friends and thus no best man, unless his mother (Jane Curtin) fills in. After he concocts a tray full of root-beer floats for the girls, he concurs that he must embrace his manhood and sets out on his alpha male journey.He asks for help from his gay brother, Robbie (Andy Samberg), who knows how to get a guy, whether they are gay or straight. One of the platonic suitors for Peter is a high-voiced soccer nut who reminds Peter of Elmo. A dinner date leads to a misunderstanding, with Peter getting a deep throated kiss from a guy named Doug.After some fits and starts, and an excruciatingly painful beer guzzling game in which Peter throws up on the party host, he's all but given up -- until he meets Sydney Fife (Jason Segel of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall").Fife could have written the book on how to be a guy's guy. He guzzles beer, wears cargo pants and Ugg boots complimented with a John Coltrane T-shirt, and refuses to pick up his dog's poop on the Venice Beach boardwalk, claiming it is meant to be natural compost. He's the genial Shaggy from "Scooby Doo," and perhaps just the right fit to teach Peter some lessons in machismo.Peter takes to Fife's laid back lifestyle: a beach house with its own "man cave," in which exists a real rock band set up of guitars and drums, and a sound system that can pipe in Rush for karaoke-style jams.As the bonding starts to stick like Krazy Glue, tension begins building between Peter and Zooey. While it's all very predictable, there are priceless uncomfortable moments including a too-close-for-comfort toast made by best man Fife at the engagement dinner, and Peter's lame attempts throughout to be hip including nicknames for Sydney that never quite work.In the capable hands of writer-director John Hamberg ("Along Came Polly"), "I Love You, Man" never panders or pokes fun. It just allows its characters to be human and offers up a bromantic comedy that's a buddy picture for the 21st century. What's not to love, man? Copyright 2009, Internet Broadcasting. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
