I Love You, Man isn’t a Judd Apatow production, but employs a
lot of his alumni and yuppity romantic concerns. Its take on white
cultural meanings of manhood gives up at about the same place as The
40 Year Old Virgin—preferring to cure differing social ethics
than to deal with them. But for a while, I Love You, Man‘s
hetero “bromance” finds an infectious comic swing.
When Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) overhears his fiance’s girlfriends
criticize his lack of male friends (while he was in the kitchen making
them all rootbeer floats), he begins to suspect something is missing
from his life. Writers John Hamburg and Larry Levin’s smart approach is
that Peter isn’t shocked or off-put by male vulgarity—he simply
hasn’t chosen it for himself. He meets Sidney Fife (Jason Segel), a
classic case of slobbery, and takes anthropological interest. It isn’t
long before Peter begins to find out that he really does love to
practice roaring on Venice Beach, and playing bass to Rush albums. Rudd
and Segel’s chemistry is responsible for the film’s best moments.
Peter’s failed efforts at fraternal lingo are funnier than the
predictable guy talk versus girl talk romantic conversations that start
the film. If the movie hasn’t the courage to accept his lifestyle, it
at least pokes fun at expected gender behaviour when Sidney finds he’s
defenseless against enjoying Miramax pseudo-art film
Chocolat.
I Love You, Man is carefully conceived as a mainstream date
movie, to the point where its indulgent length only serves to give
couples longer to hang out. Its last half is too thinly padded. The
movie isn’t subversive, even though it first seems like it will be. But
the cast knows what’s funny about the attitudes they’re addressing, and
that gives the comedy weight.
This article appears in Mar 26 – Apr 1, 2009.