Uneven Man Not Worthy of Love
Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) does not have any male friends. A hit with the ladies, he’s going to get married to his beautiful sweetheart Zooey (Rashida Jones) but doesn’t have a Best Man to share the moment with. Urged on by his dad Oswald (J.K. Simmons) and out of the closet brother Robbie (Andy Samberg) he decides to start going on ‘Man Dates,’ trying to find that one friend who can help him out come wedding day.
Jason Segal and Paul Rudd in Paramount Pictures' I Love You, Man
Just as he’s about to give up ever finding a male best buddy, along comes the gregarious Sydney Fife (Jason Segel), a generous man who is Peter’s polar opposite. Yet somehow the two bond, striking up an easygoing relationship that brings out the best and worst in both of them. The problem is, this new friendship isn’t without its speed bumps, and soon Peter is wondering what the heck it is he’s gotten himself into.
The new comedy I Love You, Man from co-writer and director John Hamburg (Along Came Polly) is a huge hit-and-miss affair that goes from extreme high to horrific low in the matter of nanoseconds. There are times I laughed so hard I thought my gut was going to burst wide open, the film having an unhinged anything goes quality that’s distinctly impressive.
But for every moment of greatness there are two or three of such odious idiocy and ineptitude I almost wanted to scream at the screen in anger. For long stretches of film Hamburg leaves his characters and his audience stranded, both of them desperately searching for a reason to escape from their tiredly unfunny malaise.
It’s the central conceit that’s the biggest problem. I just don’t buy that a guy as smart and as successful as Peter wouldn’t have a single male friend. For anyone to rise as far as he has in his profession he’s going to have to possess at least moderate social skills with individuals of both sexes. While I’m not saying he has to be buddy-buddy with every guy he meets, I do feel he at least should have been able to throw back a beer without projectile vomiting all over somebody, and this is a defect in Hamburg and Larry Levin’s (Doctor Dolittle) I just couldn’t get past.
Additionally, I don’t quite understand the fascination with Segel. I wasn’t a fan after Forgetting Sarah Marshall and I’m certainly not one after watching this. He just isn’t that funny. If anything, I actually find him kind of sad, and while I respect his drive and willingness to do anything, no matter how ludicrous or grotesque, required of him that still doesn’t mean the actor makes me laugh.
On the flipside of that coin is Rudd, an actor I am starting to absolutely adore no matter how horrible or asinine the picture he’s involved with ends up being. In the case of this film, he almost makes it worthwhile all on his lonesome. Every single moment that tickled my funny bone or sent me into giggle fits belonged entirely to him, and if the movie has any merit at all it is precisely because of him.
I also quite loved his rapport with costar Jones. If I didn’t quite buy the relationship between him and Segel, the one Rudd shared with her I found just about priceless. The two have great chemistry, Hamburg and Levin’s best writing revolving completely around them. Simmons, Samberg, Jane Curtain, Jon Favreau and Jaime Pressly all have some wonderful moments of their own, each of these comedic veterans providing little jolts of lunacy that are definitely sublime.
If only the rest of the film rose to the same level, too much of I Love You, Man feeling ridiculous and forced. But when the movie works it does so hysterically, and while that wasn’t quite enough as far as I was concerned it comes just close enough to being so I wouldn’t begrudge another looking for a decent comedic escape from the humdrum from taking the time to catch a matinee.
Film Rating: êê1/2 (out of 4)
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