 It's a bromance! I Love You, Man is a hilarious and occasionally ribald film that is centered on Peter (Paul Rudd) who doesn't seem to have any male friends. It isn't that surprising a theme. Everyone has met a character like Peter at some point: he's the guy who prefers hanging out with girls, who is consistently in relationships, who gets along far better with his mother than his father.
These guys don't seem to think anything's odd with them, and neither does Peter, until he eavesdrops on his new fiance (Zoeey, played by Rashida Jones) and her girlfriends discussing the lack of male company in his life.
This realization has Peter go on a bizarre man-hunt where he asks everyone he knows to "hook him up with someone" (singletons, rejoice, you're not the only ones using this tactic) so he can find some male friends. But Peter only meets a few people before he gives up hope altogether and you can't blame him either. One's a fanatic soccer fan who picks fights in the stadium; the other turns out to be gay and thinks Peter is too, leading to an awkward kiss.
The deal-breaker is when Zooey's friend's husband invites Peter to a poker game, and Peter rewards him for his hospitality by not just winning a beer-chugging contest but also projectile vomiting on his host.
 And when Peter has given up all hope of ever finding a male friend, wondering how he's going to be able to match up to Zoeey's large contingent at their upcoming wedding, he meets Sydney (Segel). As with all good and great romantic comedies, Sydney seems to be Peter's polar opposite. Where Peter is stilted, awkward, diplomatic and earnest, Sydney is confident, assured, irreverent and extremely candid, albeit with a somewhat short fuse.
The chemistry between the two actors is remarkable though, and over a series of 'man-dates' they discover a shared love for the band Rush (who do a cameo in the film) and fish tacos. Sydney helps Peter overcome his reluctance to talk about male-specific subjects (the details of which are too risque to reveal in a national newspaper, but imagine any conversation between two guys). The friendship that forms between the two sees a remarkable change in Peter, but sadly for Zoeey, it comes at the expense of time with her.
I Love You, Man zeroes in on the talent of two television actors: Jason Segel and Rashida Jones. Segel is one of the lead actors on the hit comedy show How I Met Your Mother and delivered a great performance in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008). Fans of How I Met Your Mother will see a common link between Segel's character in the film and that of Barney Stinson's on the show, which is played by Neil Patrick Harris. On the other hand, Rashida Jones – who is legendary music producer Quincy Jones' daughter – had a short run on the American version of The Office and Boston Public.
The other actors in the film, particularly J.K. Simmons as Peter's father, are just as fun to watch. Were this to be a three-hour long Bollywood saga, they could have been explored further. But with the time constraint, the script seems to put them in stereotyped roles, such as Jaime Pressly who plays the aggressive wife or Sarah Burns as the slightly desperate single woman.
Even though I Love You, Man is ultimately about friendship, it does paint an accurate picture of the 20-something/coming of age themes of relationships and marriage and career choices. It deservedly became a box-office hit when it released earlier this year, and the film's refreshing honesty is what really works in its favour.
So while the eventual climax is predictably shocking and the ending takes a turn for the soppy, I Love You, Man is definitely worth watching.
– Saba Imtiaz
*YUCK
**WHATEVER
***GOOD
****SUPER
*****AWESOME |
