On the surface, I LOVE YOU, MAN seems constructed from the same ilk as the recent JUDD APATOW comedy onslaught; which includes but is not limited to: SUPERBAD, KNOCKED UP and 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN. And this instinct isn’t a stretch considering both PAUL RUDD and JASON SEGAL have been major players in those comedies. But with I LOVE YOU, MAN, director JOHN HAMBURG (ALONG CAME POLLY) wasn’t satisfied with the now-formulaic and always twenty minutes too-long APATOW approach.
I LOVE YOU, MAN stars PAUL RUDD as PETER, a moderately successful real-estate agent on the brink of both a milestone estate sale and the beginning of a marriage. HAMBURG wastes no time establishing PETER as the man who’s always had a girlfriend, consequently never had a guy friend and apparently lacking the social skill to develop a heterosexual male relationship.
Also clear-cut is PETER’S fiancée ZOOEY, played nicely by RASHIDA JONES (THE OFFICE). Absent here is the over-top irrationality or the sulking timid time bomb we’ve come to expect of female roles in the American sex comedy. ZOOEY is believable, but never boring. She is unique without being annoying. In a picture that’s title clearly defines which side of the gender fence it examines – ZOOEY could easily have been the super-independent-female or the manipulative monster; so when ZOOEY turns out to be normal, it’s as if everyone can breath a sigh of relief.
JASON SEGAL’S SYDNEY is also a breath of fresh air. The audience isn’t berated with exposition and back-story setting up SYDNEY, besides, all those devices had been used up (and rightly so) when establishing PETER. Instead, SYDNEY maintains a mysterious flair and whether or not you think you’re wise to his act (and for those particularly apt viewers who ARE wise to his act) there is enough non-information to give his scenes a necessary urgency. The execution and success of SEGAL’S SYDNEY echoes RUSSELL BRAND’S flip and pirate-esque performance of the rock-star character ALDOUS SNOW in FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL.
The magic in I LOVE YOU, MAN comes in part from SYDNEY’S bizarre allure, in part from PETER’S amateur-hour friend-making skills, but really results from the two, and specifically how SYDNEY and PETER play off each-other. Successful comedy tandems are increasingly difficult to find, but SYDNEY never feels like he’s doing a PETER impression, or visa versa. Here’s one way to think about it: as storied and intertwined as WILL FERRELL and JOHN C RILEY’S careers have been, it wasn’t until STEP BROTHERS that the two actually complimented one another on screen instead of it just feeling as though JOHN C RILEY was doing his best WILL FERRELL impersonation.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of I LOVE YOU, MAN? The brilliantly written and sharply delivered relationship between DENISE (ZOOEY’S best friend) and her husband BARRY (played by JAIME PRESSLY and JON FAVREAU respectively). The two argue and verbally attack one another with the ease, precision and hilarity of mortal enemies – but they’re husband and wife. We come to understand that beneath the crass surface of DENISE and BARRY’s marriage (which rarely survives a scene without some sense of sexual barter) is a bedrock of love and support.
Ultimately I LOVE YOU, MAN works because HAMBURG was choiceful. He opted against the excessive runtime, was opposed to polarizing female characters and refused to have two leads with the same comedic sensibility. Instead, he put humanity into the writing, directed two fantastic on screen tandems (SEGAL/RUDD, PRESSLY/FAVREAU) and constructed a story with enough intrigue to justify a picture. If you can tolerate adult language and scenarios (although absent is the legendary SEGAL male nudity) be sure to check out I LOVE YOU, MAN in the theaters.
