Starring: Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones, Jaime Pressly, Sarah Burns, Andy Samberg, Jon Favreau. J. K. Simmons
Directed By: John Hamberg
Written By: John Hamberg, Larry Levin
Grade: B+

The Apatow team gives us another hilarious and loveable bromance film in I Love You, Man. Superbad and Pineapple Express among others have shown this before, but I Love You, Man’s premise is even funnier since these are grown men in the working world who instantly form this bond when they barely know each other. Featuring a cast of many of the funniest people in comedy today, it’s hard not to have a great time just watching them work off one another.

Peter (Rudd) and Zooey (Jones) have been dating for the past 8 months and have just gotten engaged. Zooey immediately calls her two best friends, Hailey (Burns) and Denise (Pressly) to break the news. Peter realizes he really doesn’t have anyone to break the news to like she does. They tell his family the next day, but he has no idea who his best man is going to be as he doesn’t really have any good guy friends. He has always been all about his girlfriend and in general just gets along better with woman than men. He tries to make better friends with people at work and at fencing class, but after this doesn’t work out he takes his, brother, Robbie’s (Samberg) advice to go on a mandate. Robbie is gay, but he claims that straight men are his specialty since he finds them to be more of a challenge.

Peter goes on a few of these man dates, one with a man with a high-pitched voice who Peter refers to as Elmo. He also has dinner with someone who just moved in to town. It seems to have gone well, but when he kisses Peter, it becomes clear that this may not work out. When Peter is at an open house he meets Sydney Fife (Segel) who is just there to meet divorcees and eat the food. They talk somewhat and exchange business cards. Peter gets a feeling about Sydney and calls him up. The two end up having a great time. They soon after learn that they are both huge fans of Rush and begin having jam sessions together. At first, Zooey is happy that Peter has found a friend, but soon she starts to feel like Sydney has become a bigger part of Peter’s life than she is. Before long, Peter has a falling out with both of them, but can’t forget about who he loves.

The cast in the movie really made the film. I am thrilled that Jason Segel has become such a star as he has a very funny goofiness to him that is great to watch. He is still playing different characters though between the loyal, but extremely silly Marshall in How I Met Your Mother to the hopelessly in love and straight man, Peter in Forgetting Sarah Marshall to the confident and cool Sydney we get here. Paul Rudd is likeable as Peter, but it is no question that the best moments are when Rudd and Segel are together. They have the perfect chemistry and they hit all of the comedy perfectly. The dialogue is completely ridiculous, but that is what makes it so much fun. For Sydney, many of these nonsensical words are just part of his vocabulary, which is pretty amusing. For Peter, it is just him trying to fit in and talk how he thinks he should. So he is almost trying too hard and is very unsure of himself through this. He got compared to the Leprechaun with every voice he attempted to do. Of course the closeness of their relationship as two guys who really haven’t known each other for that long is very funny as it hints at homo-eroticism through two men who are clearly all about women.

It’s great to see Rashida Jones as the leading lady and she certainly carries her weight. Jaime Pressly is very funny as the strong, often angered, by her husband anyway, best friend of Zooey. She actually plays a much calmer and friendly character generally, but she is completely different when it comes to her husband. Some of the fighting between Pressly and Jon Favreau is pretty funny as well giving us both the aggressive woman and the macho man. J.K. Simmons is enjoyable as Peter’s father who seems to be favor Robbie over Peter. Andy Samberg as Robbie was also great as Peter’s guide for his man dates. Making him gay, yet go after straight men was a great way to go as it gave us a great combination of potential guy friends for Peter, some gay, some just weird, and of course there’s Peter’s perfect match, Sydney.

I liked that the film gave more motivation for Peter to find a guy friend aside from just needing a best man. He could have always used his brother as they were friends. It was really about more than this though. He felt ashamed that he didn’t have more guy friends and felt a bit abnormal because of this especially when he heard Zooey and her friends talking about this. It’s an interesting story line itself, trying to make friends when you’re an adult. He resorts to having his mother set him up as this is really a comedic opportunity for the film, but as no matter what this is going to be a stranger he has to go about it the way he might talk to a woman he wanted to get closer too. Picking up the opposite sex at this age is much more common than trying to pick up friends, but really it isn‘t much different aside from the expectations.

I Love You, Man is very funny in ways that most buddy movies are such as some gross out, sexual, and physical humor. However, as part romantic comedy, it also has a bigger heart than your average buddy movie. It brings the two types of movies wonderfully, keeping the best of both together. It has some sweet moments, but before it risks getting too sappy the more “guy” centered comedy kicks in for a certain sense of irony. It also brings observational comedy through some witty dialogue. Both the observations themselves such as Sydney noticing that a man at the open house is holding in a fart due to clenching, as well as why Sydney is so observant particularly in this case. All of the characters are enjoyable, but Sydney Fife is really what made this movie stand out from others like it. Sydney is a ton of fun to watch, through certain absurdities about him, but even more so through how care free yet enthusiastic he can be. He lives his life the way he wants to and is completely comfortable with who he is. He is the fantasy of who most people would love to be if they could. He gives Peter vacations from his life and lets him embody this lifestyle periodically. I Love You, Man is a very fun film that the chick flick fans as well as the guys who dread going to them will be entertained with, giving plenty for everyone to enjoy.