Isn't It Bromantic?

Rudd and Segal get all By Tor and the Snow Dog in I Love You Man.

Rating:

I did a brief review of the movie I Love You Man and thought it was worth expanding on just a little bit more. The movie starts with a real estate seller named Paul Rudd (40 Year Old Virgin) proposing to his cute girlfriend played by Rashida Jones (The Office). Peter something is the name of Rudd's character, he had high hopes of selling off Lou Ferrigno's property and parlaying the commission to bigger and better things.

But problems arise when the fiancee' worries about Peter's lack of male friends. On top of that, he has trouble selling Lou Ferrigno's property so Peter has to fend off competition from his flashy loud mouth co-worker trying to horn in on the action. So with help from his gay gym trainer brother (performed by SNL's Andy Sandberg with his usual clueless hyper confidence) and his mom, Peter goes on a series of "man dates" that end in confusion of all types.

This is the first 30 minutes or so, it's mildly amusing but without any heavy yuks making things start to drag. The likeable persona of Rudd's uptight Peter keeps it moving just enough to get to Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother). Segel's character is a free spirit type living in a sort of arrested development where the things that matter are brewskis, free food and Rush. Segel and Rudd meet at an open house for Lou Ferrigno's estate and they hit it off, launching the bromance. Finally the humor kicks in as they bond over "guy" things that causes an increase in confidence in Rudd and leaves Jones wondering where she fits in between the two guys. Most of the humor comes from Rudd and Segal running around like best buds with endless disposable income.

I Love You Man is not the greatest comedy of all time or anything close, it's more like a tv movie with some R rated humor. All of the characters are sympathetic in some way and not terribly original. Segal makes the most of getting to be the unpredictable "live wire" while Rudd does a decent job of being the straight man (and Segal is on a roll following a good performance in Forgetting Sarah Marshall). The pacing and direction is clean and unobtrusive, going in for the jokes and wisely dodging social commentary. And as I wrote yesterday, Rashida Jones gives depth to an empty role that doesn't even come with any funny lines.

When it's all said and done, I Love You Man gives enough of a good time to recommend it. Because today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you and the space he invades he gets by on you.