Reviews & Previews - I Love You, Man

Posted on Friday, March 13, 2009 at 06:00 PM

I Love You, Man

By: S. Tran

Starring: Paul Rudd, Rashida Jones, Jason Segel
Directed By: John Hamburg
Rated: R

Dick Flick?

That's the best I could come up with to describe this film which is basically a chick flick with guys instead of girls. Despite that unappealing analogy though this is a very funny movie that you will enjoy if you were a fan of the 40 Year Old Virgin. It's a smart comedy based around a goofy premise that provides laughs without testing your patience.

Rudd stars as Peter who is engaged to Zooey (Jones) and realizes he has no close male friends when they begin discussing wedding plans. He sets to remedy this problem by going on a series of man dates and eventually meets Sydney (Segel). While their personalities are different it turns they both share the same interests and soon develop a friendship. Unfortunately, Sydney's outgoing, offbeat nature begins to upset Peter's reserved, vanilla life.

After reading that description you are probably thinking this movie has been done before and you would be right. However, the writing is sharp and the acting is genuine and honest which makes this movie far better than most of this genre.

Part of the success of the movie is that it doesn't try and stretch out a joke once the humor had been wrung from it, such as the scene where Sydney gets into a fight with Lou Ferrigno. If this was one of those movies based on Saturday Night Live skits for instance that scene would have gone on for 15 minutes, long after it stopped being funny. The writers did a great job of making sure there was always something new to laugh it and kept the story moving along.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't high brow stuff we're talking about. You get some gross out humor and sex jokes but the jokes are an organic part of the story. It never feels like the director just threw in a joke just to up the ha-ha quotient. The story itself is also funny because it examines the issue of male friendship in a new way. As a guy I could relate to the problems that men have making friends sometimes, especially as we get older. The awkwardness of inviting a new guy to come and hang out is something that I'm sure a lot of guys have gone through.

The cast also deserves a lot of credit for making the movie work so well. Rudd will remind you a lot of Steve Carell from The 40 Year Old Virgin with his naive, awkwardness. He plays a good straight man but delivers when he has the funny lines. Segel is also excellent as the slightly off center friend and the two enjoy some good bromance chemistry. I also liked the fact that the actors managed to be funny without resorting to acting like clowns and when it came time for the quiet moments in the movie they showed that they could act. They were also backed by a good supporting cast.

This is the first great comedy of the year. While not groundbreaking in any way it is excellent and will make you laugh out loud.

4 out of 5 stars.