I Love You, Man, 2009.
Directed by John Hamburg.
Starring Jason Segel, Paul Rudd, Rashida Jones, Greg Levine, Jaime Pressly, Jon Favreau, J.K. Simmons and Andy Samberg.
SYNOPSIS:
Peter Klaven (Rudd) is due to get married, and he’s come to the realisation that since being in a relationship with his other half, Zooey (Jones), he hasn’t had any friends – he’s just shared hers. So, determined to find a new B F F, Peter goes on a series of ‘man-dates’ before he meets Sydney (Segel), a happy-go-lucky type who soon puts a strain on the couple.
Put Paul Rudd and Jason Segel together and you would usually have me sold. So why did it take me such a long time to get round to watching the movie? Well, to be honest, when it first came out I wasn’t initially attracted by the trailer despite the two stars. The comedy didn’t seem to be my style, as it edged into crude, and the storyline didn’t exactly grip me. However, I finally got round to giving it a proper chance.
I Love You, Man is a play on the popular term ‘bro-mance’, two guy mates being close and being there for each other. Peter meets Sydney after a few failed attempts at ‘man-dates’ (one man mistaking it for an actual date by concluding the evening with a sloppy kiss), and hit it off almost instantly. Sydney is the laid back guy who Peter wishes he could be, someone to recapture his youth with whilst they rock out to their favourite band. It’s the perfect friendship, until it’s not.
Sydney and Zooey do not get on – with Sydney demanding a lot of time from Peter, time cutting into the precious coupley evenings he should be spending with his wife-to-be. A rift is soon formed between the trio, and the bro-mance appears to be over.
The plot of the film is not too bad, I’ll admit. It’s light, frothy and easy to follow. What else do you need from a comedy? It has a few laughs, and it has a few moments where laughing would be inappropriate. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really have anything to lift it from mediocrity, which is a shame, as Rudd and Segel certainly have the potential to portray characters that would have been a lot more interesting and enjoyable than the ones they played. The script just lacked the fun that films like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and other Judd Apatow films do so well. You couldn’t really cling to any of the characters and love them, unfortunately.
However, the film’s merit lays in its attempt to be a little different and dance around with the rom-com genre a little. Particular highlights of the film include the characters of Denise and Barry, a married couple who fight like dogs, then mate like rabbits (Jaime Pressly and Jon Favreau), and Andy Samberg as Peter’s gay younger brother Robbie.
Flickering Myth Rating: Film *** / Movie ***
Originally published March 15, 2012. Updated April 10, 2018.
