I loved it, man

4/5

I Love You, Man tells the story of Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd), a real estate agent with a girlfriend turned fiancé (played by Rashida Jones) who realizes that he has no male friends. Peter is a truly likable guy, his problem is that he doesn’t understand most of the normal social nuances of male bonding. He frantically goes on several man dates in an attempt to find both a best man for his wedding and someone to keep him from become a nightmarishly clingy husband. When Peter meets Sydney Fife (Jason Segel) there is an instant “bromantic” connection. The strange one-liners and forced awkward moments make up the majority of the laughs as we continually hope that Peter will “just get it” at some point and become best buds with Sydney.

Paul and Jason have a very strong chemistry on screen, despite the many awkward moments that they share. You continue to cheer for Peter’s character while at the same time grimacing as he awkwardly tries to do the “cool” thing. Even at end of the movie Peter is just as socially awkward as the beginning and yet, it’s still funny. All of the supporting actors are wonderfully cast and wonderfully fill in all of the main characters' very strange ensemble of friends and family. Without their smaller stories and jokes, it would have felt as though we were watching the same two jokes on repeat for 1 ½ hours. The climax of the movie builds upon a very solid foundation and some wonderful plot twists, but then seems to resolve itself too quickly as the end of the movie approaches.

One of the things that was oddly missing was any real soundtrack. While the two main characters' story was partly driven by a shared obsession with the band Rush there was a strange absence of any real soundtrack. Much of the movie had no music playing, which was usually fine, but occasionally when the music finally did kick in it seemed strange and slightly out of place.

In recent years movies have had more and more product placement. Michael Bay, for example, (Transformers, Bad Boys) has seemed to have been one of the biggest believers of this new means of marketing. There are some very strangely placed product placements in this movie. In one scene Peter wants to play his fiancé Zooey a song on his computer, his line of “Let me play it on iTunes” (paraphrased) seemed very forced. As well as a moment where Peter is asking Sydney to return his Lost Season 2 DVDs where he says “Zooey just wants to find out what’s going on inside that hatch” (paraphrased).

Pros:
Excellent casting, especially the support cast. Well executed repeat jokes and smaller plot twists.

Cons:
Lack of soundtrack made the existing music seem out of place. The repeated jokes some times don’t work as well as other times.

Bottom Line:
Judd Apatow has made a name for himself producing movies filled with fart jokes and profanity. Director John Hamburg’s touch made this movie seem a little softer around the edges than some of Judd’s other movies. At times I felt as though I was watching a low brow comedy, at times I felt like I was watching a date movie and at times I felt like I was watching a test in how many times the same jokes could be repeated. This bromatic comedy seems to work on these different levels and could appeal to many for different reasons. Ultimately a satisfying movie providing enough laughs (albeit smaller more frequent chuckles rather than larger more infrequent laughs) and well fleshed out characters that all seem honest and relatable.