Reviewed by Lamar Kukuk
4/26/09
Hollywood sells us a lot
of fantasies, most of which we know aren't real. We can't fight aliens,
become pro sports stars with no experience, take on magical powers by getting
struck by lightning or conduct two-way conversations in English with our
dogs. But that doesn't stop us from believing in the way people interact
in the movies. Love and friendship are so easy to find in that universe
that screenwriters must dream up silly contrivances to get in their way.
Rare is the movie that confronts how hard it actually is to find lasting
love. Rarer still is one about how hard it is to make friends.
For most of its' running time, John Hamburg's I Love You, Man tells
an uncannily observant story about a man with no trouble finding love who
just can't connect with his fellow dudes. Powered by another awesome
comic star turn by Paul Rudd, the movie makes it almost all the way to
the finish line before those nasty contrivances rear their heads.
Even so, I Love You, Man is as hilarious as it is observant.
Peter Klavin (Paul Rudd)
is in love. Girlfriend Zooey (Rashida Jones) has just accepted his
marriage proposal and can't wait to call all her friends. Peter doesn't
have any friends to call. He's a self-professed “girlfriend guy”
who doesn't really know any guys outside of his brother Robbie (Andy Samberg)
and dad Oswald (JK Simmons). Not having a Best Man for the wedding
would be awkward, but what really hurts is overhearing a conversation among
Zooey's pals about how none of them would want to be married to a guy with
no friends. So he throws himself into a series of “Man Dates” with
pretty much any guy who'll have him, and the results are not good.
Meanwhile, at work he's struggling to sell the mansion of 80's TV star
Lou Ferrigno (himself), holding an open house that attracts no bids but
a connection with a guy he actually likes, Sydney Fife (Jason Segel).
He asks him to hang out, and soon the two guys are walking Sydney's dog
and jamming together on their guitars pretty much every chance they get.
But while Zooey wanted Peter to have a friend, she wasn't prepared for
a world where she wasn't the only person in his life. Will the three
of them settle their differences in time to stand at that alter together?
Paul Rudd's gotten tons of
ink as a rising comic star and all you need to see why is to compare his
performances in I Love You, Man and last fall's Role
Models. In the later, he's such a grumpy, self-loathing guy he
can't even bring himself to put on a show for his girlfriend and tells
everyone what he thinks because he doesn't care enough to lie. Here,
on the other hand, his Peter Klavin has gotten so in touch with his feminine
side, he doesn't have any of what it takes to interact with his fellow
men. Peter wants to make everyone happy, which has a funny way of
making people unhappy with you, and Rudd plays that spiraling contradiction
to perfection as he tries to connect with what must feel to him like a
third gender (after all, he's a guy, right? Why isn't anyone else?).
I Love You, Man is
innovative in that it's essentially playing material that in most movies
is a love triangle as a three-way love story. Rudd's got great chemistry
with both Jones and Siegel and they both also create vivid characters.
Zooey is torn between the fact that she loves Peter just the way he is
and the fact that the way he is just doesn't seem right. Both her
friends and social convention say he NEEDS guy friends, but she's not prepared
for what that entails, and Jones does a great job with the material, walking
that fine line between supportive and “uh, I didn't sign up for that part”.
Siegel is also great at seeming like he doesn't care about anything when
he's really as needy in his own macho way as Peter.
Sydney is a great comic creation.
Unlike, say, the typical Will Ferrell character, he's not somebody who
slums in his own little Secret Guy Lair and randomly goes ballistic on
people because he doesn't know any better. No, this is a guy smart
enough to make a living as an investor and to know enough about the finer
things to connect with Peter over their shared feelings about what kind
of h'ors devours to serve at an Open House. Sydney isn't just a man
who hasn't grown up, he's a man who doesn't WANT to grow up, and if it
requires facing down Lou Ferrigno refusing to call him anything but “Hulk”
until he chokes him out, then so be it. And he really is Peter's
perfect friend, a guy so far on the opposite end of his experience, but
still able to speak his language. There's real magic in this couple
of pals.
There's so much real comedy
and drama to be mined out of Peter, Zooey and Sydney's differences over
the way the new friendship shakes up all their lives that it's a shame
the movie has to go on Romantic Comedy Auto-Pilot in the final third, with
people breaking up to create false drama rather than staying and struggling
thought those potent conflicts. The movie does find a solid,
albeit predictable, note to close on, and the stuff over the end credits
is gold. Aside from this narrative slip-up, co-writer/director John
Hamburg shows a really good touch for basing his blue and gross-out humor
in a relatable reality, and I always find empathy rather than queasiness
to be what makes this kind of comedy work for me.
He's also filled out his
supporting cast with lots of great comedians. It's funny to think
of how long Jamie Pressly labored in Stock Babe roles because her comic
instincts are flawless. She and Jon Favreau are a hoot as a couple
with a hateful relationship that seems to be built on nothing but makeup
sex (the scene where Peter joins Favreau's buddies for a night of poker
and “pounding brews” is hysterical). Andy Samberg and JK Simmons
are great as the guys in Peter's life because of DNA: Simmons really
sells a great running joke about his almost-unseen best friend. Thomas
Lennon has some great moments as a guy who misinterprets what Peter's campaign
to connect with a guy is all about, and Sarah Burns puts a nice spin on
Zooey's best friend, on a quest even more desperate in its' own way than
Peter's.
Before it wimps out and falls
back on formula, I Love You, Man is that rare comedy that really seems
to have insight into the way people relate rather than just the way movie
characters do. And it's yet another home run for budding comic star
Rudd. I read a study once that found that ¼ of Americans don't
have a single close friend: here's a movie to give them a little
hope while they continue the search for their own Sydney Fife. |
