I Love You, Man
Not only is I Love You, Man a huge commercial for Lou Ferrigno and The Incredible Hulk, it is also a tribute to guys who have gone too far across the line in “being there” for their girlfriends. Guys who have no friends and find yourselves hanging with your girlfriend’s buddies, this movie was made for you!
Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) is a woman’s best friend. He is the guy that other guys laugh at but all women use as an example of what they wish their guy could be. He is the guy that you see massaging his lady’s feet and helping her pick out shoes in the mall. He is successful, charming and madly in love with his girlfriend Zooey (Rashida Jones). The only thing missing from his otherwise perfect life is the ability to bond with other males and maintain friends outside of his mom and dad. Thus I Love You, Man is a movie about Peter’s quest to obtain a Best Man for his wedding. Through a process of trial and error he goes out with gay guys, old men and weirdos until he finds Sydney Fife (Jason Segal). The two hit it off mostly due to Sydney and the result is the same ‘ol thing we have seen a million times, the lead up, the downer and then the rising crescendo.
I laughed a lot but it was all the same, the main character had the flaw of being a complete idiot (and cornball) around men and becoming one of the girlfriends when around his fiance. This didn’t sit well with me because I know guys like this and they really do make me sick… seeing 2 hours of THAT guy was enough to make me vomit. Sydney being the friend to bring Peter back into the realm of manhood turns out to be a character of youth being trapped into an adult who cannot commit or grow up. There is a shallow undertone to the entire movie that I disliked despite my laughter… Reall Sydney just could not be a regular guy huh.
The bright spot in the comic relief to me was the chemistry of Jon Favreau and Jamie Pressly as the angry married couple Barry and Denise. Whenever these two were on screen it made for tons of laughter versus the main protagonist and his cookie cutter girlfriend Zooey. Many times I had to cover my face in embarassment for Peter whenever he opened his mouth. He is so corny you are forced to feel embarassed for him even as an audience member.
Full of cliches and guy humor that you have heard and seen before and annoyingly repetitive jokes that make you want to pull your ears off. I Love You, Man had all the potential to be great but settles at good due to overkill on certain aspects. By all means watch it but I recommend it more for THOSE guys who have no friends outside of their women. It’s a good wake-up call and very accurate in certain aspects of male relations.
STAR RATING: (5/10) ★★★★★★★★★★
Filed under Comedy, Romance · Tagged with buddy movie, homosexuality, jason segel, paul rudd
