Review: I Love You, Man (2009)

Director: John Hamburg (Along Came Polly)

Cast: Paul Rudd (Role Models, 40 Year Old Virgin), Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother, Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Rashida Jones (The Office), Jaime Pressly (My Name Is Earl), Jon Favreau (The Break-Up), J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man, Juno), Andy Samberg (Saturday Night Live), Sarah Burns

The Deal: Peter (Rudd), a successful real-estate agent, becomes engaged to the girl of his dreams, Zooey (Jones), only to realize that he has no male friends worthy of being his Best Man. Determined to solve his dilemma, Peter sets out on a series on man-dates to find a best friend, but has no luck. At a house showing for Lou Ferrigno (Himself), Peter meets Sydney (Segel), who crashes open-houses for the food while investing in random projects for a living. The two become fast friends, but at the cost of Peter's relationship with Zooey, which is slowly crumbling.

Thoughts: It's getting to the point where any comedy with the same group of actors (Rudd, Segel, Leslie Mann, Seth Rogan, etc... the "Judd Apatow Gang") is guaranteed to at the very least bring the humor. I Love You, Man takes it the distance, combining all the humor within a charming and believable story. Peter is the stereotypical nice guy, the one who drops everything for his girlfriend and puts her first, no matter what the cost is else where. But he realizes he needs a male friend, someone to rock out to Rush with and just hang out. The film really delves into the complexities of relationships and the importance of finding balance between one's activities, and it does so in hilarious fashion.

Segel and Rudd have great chemistry on screen, with all of their jokes flowing effortlessly and their friendship feeling natural. This isn't surprising given the two and their past history of projects, but out of the entire Apatow group, I have always found these two to be the funniest. I wasn't a huge fan of Jones on The Office, I never really cared for her character, so her performance in this was pleasantly surprising. She felt very natural in the role and worked well with the entire cast. What I liked most about her was that she felt like a typical girlfriend and not like a Hollywood starlette playing a girlfriend. Favreau, Simmons, and Samberg all had smaller roles in this film, but they were consistently funny in the scenes they did have.

Some of the more memorable bits from the film are Sydney's billboards, all the scenes with Lou Ferrigno, and the incredibly awkward encounters with Peter's man-date who was actually gay and very much attracted to Peter. The guy popped everywhere Peter and Sydney were hanging out, and in the worst times, causing him to become incredibly jealous despite actually being clueless.

Up until this past year, the band Rush has been one that I was familiar with, but nothing more (I was born in the 80's so they were just before my time). But in the last year, there has been an assault of Rush in TV and films (I Love You Man, Chuck, Fanboys). It's somewhat become the geek anthem, but I love it, and it worked very well in this film.

Verdict: A hilarious and genuine comedy guaranteed to bring the laughs. Rudd and Segel bring all the humor we've grown to expect from them. ☆☆☆☆

Liked It? Try These: 40 Year Old Virgin (2005), Knocked Up (2007), Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)