I Love You, Man

Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) is a real estate agent, and his girlfriend Zooey Rice (Rashida Jones) just accepted his marriage proposal. Everything is looking great, but then she along with her friends start to notice that he has no male friends. He goes on a search for a best friend and encounters Sydney Fife (Jason Segel) at one of his open house.

It's a little awkward at the start before Jason Segel. It has some funny moments especially with Thomas Lennon and throwing up on Jon Favreau. But Paul Rudd solo desperately needs a wing man. That's what the movie is about. But the comedy is hit and miss without it. Rudd and Segal have good chemistry. Mostly it works well. There are some good funny jokes in this.

Peter Klaven is set to marry, but doesn't have a best man, he attempts several man dates, and eventually finds Sydney Fife, a wild ocean of testosterone.

It's an enjoyable movie, and it's funny, but best of all, it is so incredibly easy to relate to. There's almost a stigma attached to finding friends, and it can be really difficult to find male friends. I don't actually have many friends that are guys, I have one, so I hoped for some tips.

Lots of laughs out loud moments, it's a good script, Peter's man dates were really funny. Seeing their bromance blossoming was actually really food,

Paul Rudd does a fine job here, his delivery is excellent, and he is very funny. Jason Segel is the perfect contrast, the pair combine so well.

Very well meaning, enjoyable.

7/10.

I Love You, Man may feel like another Apatow company production, but it's mostly because some of its "stock" company players (I put quotes as it's both a loose term and just about right) like Paul Rudd and Jason Siegel. They give the air of using the screenplay as the easiest of diving boards into just shooting-the-hell-of-it with one another as two friends. Rudd plays a guy about to get married and is embarrassed to find out, from all those around him more than anything, that he doesn't have many, or really any, true friends. He meets Siegel at an open house for Lou Ferrigno (he's a real estate agent and Ferrigno fills the oddball cameo choice, it's a great choice though), and the two hit it off as a "bromance" develops.

It's this "bromance" that makes I Love You, Man a little interesting as a double-edged romantic comedy. It's already about Rudd and his to-be played by Rashida Jones, their little moments of fun and their arguments too (there's a cute running gag involving Rudd's imitations of the band Rush sounding like an Irishman), but then it's also got plenty of innuendo to this being really about the guys, how Siegel gets attached to Rudd in that way that surely isn't gay but is more than just casual acquaintance stuff (see his "investment" plan unfold). But truth be told it's not even this that makes I Love You, Man so funny.

Rudd and Siegel are simply funny guys, but naturally so; there's a new trend to put a somewhat straight face on gross out gags in these movies, Apatow or its spin-off groups (one can equate it to the good rip-offs of Tarantino in the 90s to a certain extent), and it works very well here. It's like a sweet blending of Curb Your Enthusiasm awkwardness (if, of course, nowhere near the genius of that, especially with story) and some of the low-brow Adam Sandler stuff and joyfully useless banter and non-jock male bonding. It's not any better or lessor than recent stuff from Siegel and Rudd; you could watch this with either Forgetting Sarah Marshall or Role Models and be satisfied about the same. Again, plot is not at all the strong suit, but if you just want some cleverly obvious comedy dialog it's a good detour.

At the least, we get one of the funniest lines of the year, or just in years, near the very end: "I love you... Broseph Goebbels!"

Funny movies have to be funny. That's the only rule about funny movies. They don't have to live up to any expectations, they can be about the same thing that movies always are. It really doesn't matter. As long as they are funny.

I Love You, Man is a funny movie. In case the plot is of any interest to you, it's about this guy (Paul Rudd) who is getting married to this woman (Rashida Jones), but he realizes that he doesn't really have any male friends to fill out his side of the wedding party. So he starts on a quest with the aid of his brother (Andy Samberg) to find a best man. When he finally thinks he finds one (Jason Segel), hilarity ensues.

On the spectrum of comedies, this is a bro movie. One made basically for guys, a little raunchy. But honestly, it's not too R-rated. It cusses a bit, discusses sex a lot, things like that. But not nearly as R-rated as say... Role Models, which I feel is sort of along the same lines. Comparable at least. They are both very funny movies, and both have Paul Rudd.

But this is about I Love You, Man. The highlight of the movie, for me, is Thomas Lennon as Doug. I have been a fan of his for a long time, at least since Reno 911 came out. Which is a brilliant show. Paul Rudd is very, very cute, but not always convincing, the same with Rashida Jones as his fiancée. It's a movie that Ben Stiller would have made if he were younger. Jason Segel does what Jason Segel does. He plays his role very capably as Sydney, the crazed friend.

And that is I Love You, Man. It's a rather simple, but funny movie.

Fifteen years ago on this day in 2009, I Love You, Man came out in theaters. My favorite scenes from this movie are: Peter Klaven trying to find some friends when also hanging out with Barry and his friends, Lonnie talking in a high-pitched voice, Peter and Sydney Fife walking on the Venice Boardwalk and going to Sydney's house both for the first time, Peter and Sydney jamming, Peter saying Slap the Bass, the engagement dinner scene, the Rush concert scene, and Peter seeing billboards of himself. With that being said, happy fifteenth anniversary to I Love You, Man starring Paul Rudd as Peter Klaven and Jason Segel as Sydney Fife.