I Love You, Man

I was surprised to find out that this movie actually had nothing at all to do with Judd Apatow, which is weird because it plays out exactly like one of his. Using the same actors (Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Joe Lo Truglio) and humor.

Paul Rudd’s character is a fairly normal guy. He proposes to girlfriend Rashida Jones and she accepts. She goes and calls everyone she knows to tell them the news and finds it odd that he doesn’t do the same. Slowly they both start to realize that he has absolutely zero male friends. The closest thing is the douchebag real estate agent who works with him.

He goes on a series of “man dates” set up by Rudd’s gay brother, played by Andy Samberg. I like Samberg a great deal, but I thought his character was a little stereotypically overdramatic in its creation. It wasn’t his fault, he played the character he was given. It was just written poorly.

One of the best parts of the movie is the relationship between Jaime Pressly and Jon Favreau, who play a married couple. Pressly is always a riot in everything she does and it was weird seeing Favreau as a gruff, man’s man. He is usually so odd and out of place (on purpose). Their whole relationship is built on fighting in public and him begging her to do things sexually if he agrees to do what she wants. It’s just a really funny addition to the movie.

Jason Segel’s character was very funny, but also a little sad. He reminded me a great deal of myself in that as he has grown up his friends have all moved on and started families while he still acts like he did in high school. A sad realization, but hey, at least I write movie reviews for fun and roughly 11 people read them. Yay!

It follows the Apatow-like formula to a tee. Quirky but likable characters, unlikely friendships emerge, then there’s trouble in that friendship and everything falls to crap before finally everything is perfect again in the last five minutes.

The Lou Ferrigno part of the equation was a bit forced to me, but it had its giggle-worthy bits.

I actually ended up liking it a great deal more than I thought I would. I just wanted a few laughs but I ended up getting more than I expected. Very good movie to watch with some friends if you just want to laugh.

Score – 75