Jason Segal and Paul Rudd hit it off in I Love You, Man
Romantic comedies are probably the most predictable genre in film. The plots are straight forward: boy gets (or has) girl, boy loses girl, boy learns lesson about life and/or love and gets girl back. Everyone is happy, we all had a few laughs, and hey, that popcorn was pretty yummy as well.
Rom-coms are as polarized a genre as we have in the cinema. Its films range from the great (When Harry Met Sally, Annie Hall, Bull Durham) to the pitiful (anything Ashton Kutcher, Ryan Reynolds, or Dane Cook has ever done.) Between February and June, we are constantly hit over the head with a wide selection of rom-coms. So what’s the big idea you ask?
Hollywood’s logic is sound. The weather typically stinks (which means you aren’t going to the beach that weekend) and it’s in-between time for other studios to release their big blockbuster money-making films. The assumption then that the average couple wants to see a schmaltzy predictable film that provides a few laughs is a wise one. Romantic comedies that are released during this time do remarkably well at the box office and they typically have low to moderate budgets. Cha-ching is right.
I Love You, Man is a by the book romantic comedy however, it offers up some pleasant surprises. It suffers from the same problems most romantic comedies have: plot predictability, unnecessary gross out humor, and character development issues. But be that as it may, I Love You, Man still has many redeemable qualities, particularly in its acting and premise.
Meet Peter. Peter is a reasonably successful real estate agent and has just gotten engaged to the beautiful Zooey (Rasida Jones). They are madly in love and have an extremely healthy relationship. Following their engagement, they go to his parent’s house for a celebratory dinner. When the topic of who his best man will be comes, it is revealed that Peter has no male friends. He has always been a girlfriend guy and his inability to befriend males is well documented by his father (played by the underused JK Simmons) and his gay brother (a surprisingly solid Andy Samberg, who I have never really liked in the past.)
Peter, Zooey, and his family then decide to set him up on a few “man dates.” These range from the hilarious to the banal. One of these scenarios typifies the film. When Zooey sets him up to play poker with her best friend’s (Jaime Presley) husband (played superbly by one of my favorites, Jon Favreau) there are so many funny little touches (Favreau and Presley’s portrait hanging on the wall, the way Peter has no clue about how to play poker, Favreau’s insistence on having sex with the lights on that night) that made me laugh, but then the scene takes an expected turn and cops out to gross out humor. Peter continues to go on to meet a plethora of other male suitors. Some are funny, some are not. None are all that memorable.
One day Peter is having an open house for the estate of Lou Ferrigno (he played the Incredible Hulk on TV in the late 70’s). He notices a man devouring the sandwich spread he has put out while also hitting on potential female buyers. Peter approaches him and they immediately hit it off. He learns that his new friend’s name is Sydney Fife. He claims to be some sort of investor but Peter is intrigued and impressed, particularly when Sydney compliments his selection of sandwiches. “The sundried tomato aioli was a revelation,” might be the film’s best-delivered line. The two exchange numbers and Peter senses that Sydney might be “the one.”
Jon Favreau and Jaime Pressley provide the film with laughs that are both outrageous and subtle.
They end up going out for fish tacos in Venice Beach one night and start developing the male rapport Peter has always craved. Peter’s social awkwardness always comes into play, he never does seem to come up with a nickname for Sydney, but the connection between the two is genuine and believable. Sydney is rambunctious but still unique enough to appeal to Peter, and while Sydney seems to be doing Peter a favor, you can see his mutual respect for him grow once they start jamming out to Rush in his “man cave.”
What happens next is unsurprising. You know who gets upset about Peter spending too much time with Sydney and he “just doesn’t seem like the same guy anymore.” Peter then has to decide between his new best friend and the woman he loves. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Plot developments like these affect the film’s pace but it leads to a mostly satisfying conclusion, which I am sure you can figure out if you have seen enough of these kinds of films.
Even though I gripe about the film’s triteness, I Love You, Man is still a very enjoyable film. Paul Rudd is a very gifted comedian. His ability to subtly display discomfort and insecurity isn’t a gift bestowed upon many actors. Jason Segal is at his best. Forgetting Sarah Marshall didn’t enthrall me, but in I Love You, Man he portrays a character that made me say to myself, “I would love for this guy to be my friend!” Even though he still has his moments of random insanity, (yelling at people who tell him to clean up after his dog and fighting Ferrigno on the boardwalk) he portrays a man made up of honesty, integrity, and kindness. He provides the film with the extra dimension that makes it so good at times.
Yet, I Love You, Man still succumbs to the same pratfalls that all “Frat-pack” films seem to make. The women are not particularly written well. They are either made out to be clingy obsessed nags or drunken promiscuous skanks. There is no in-between for them and the majority of the good jokes are about them, not by them. I also don’t understand why so many films from this same production group continually find the need to make so many pop culture references. Ferrigno is in the film way too much and the constant reminder that he was the Hulk is overplayed. It’s almost as if the people who make these movies want to proclaim their one-time nerdiness while also attempting to shed that same label for their newfound “coolness.”
Be that as it may, I Love You, Man is a solid addition to the “Frat-Pack” collection of romantic comedies. It may not have all the laughs of the Forty Year Old Virgin or the heart of Knocked Up but it stands out for its ingenious premise, its joyful silliness, and the way it made me smile, even if I knew everything that was bound to happen.
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