I Love You, Man
(out of 4)
Starring Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg. Directed by John Hamburg. 104 minutes. At major theatres. 14A
Most straight males would sooner skinny dip with sharks than admit to a “bromance,” which to them implies weakness or 鈥 horrors! 鈥 latent homosexuality.
I Love You, Man takes this Freudian courtship to comic extremes with the odd-couple pairing of uptight realtor Peter (Paul Rudd) and his free-ranging pal Sydney (Jason Segel).
Why is it, the film asks, that two men can passionately debate sports, music and the wiles of women, yet they clam up at the notion that they might actually love each other in a non-sexual way?
The question becomes an urgent one for Peter after he realizes he has no close male buddy to be best man for his upcoming wedding to the fetching Zooey (Rashida Jones of TV’s The Office).
Peter has plenty of erstwhile pals, but no man he deems worthy of arguing the merits of Rush’s seminal 2112 album with, no “call-right-away friend” like the kind women have in abundance. It might have something to do with how dorky he is: Pete says things like “see you in a jiff.”
A chance meeting with Sydney at an open house for Lou Ferrigno’s L.A. mansion (Hulk jokes, ahoy!) opens a new world for Peter. The duo quickly bond over matters of oral sex, masturbation, canine defecation, reckless food and alcohol consumption and Toronto’s own Rush, a.k.a. “The Holy Trinity.” Zooey starts to get jealous, Lord knows why.
It’s a one-joke pony, but director John Hamburg (Along Came Polly) and his screenwriters manage to stretch it to nearly two hours of hilarity and quasi-profundity.
I Love You, Man looks, sounds and smells like a Judd Apatow movie from the concept and cast on down, but it is amazingly Apatow-free.
Also startling is the sight of Rudd, normally the smartest guy in the room, playing the doofus for a change. He’s such a great match with Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) that it makes you forgive the film for largely squandering comic co-stars Andy Samberg (who plays Peter’s gay brother), Jane Curtin and J.K. Simmons.
Samberg at least gets the film’s most quotable wisdom: “Hooking up is easy. Making platonic male friends, not so much.”
Some might find I Love You, Man far-fetched. In a world of 24/7 sports coverage, can mano-a-mano bonding really be so much of a problem?
It all depends on your life experience, I suppose. Speaking as the only man in history who lost money in his bachelor party poker game, I can say “Amen, bro!” to the complications of male amigohood. Anybody have a Rush album I can borrow?
