Review of I Love You, Man (2009) by Stevenf — 12 Jan 2013

With an hilarious cast, I Love You, Man hits all the right buttons for all the right reasons.

This film poses quite a simple premise, a bromance. We all have that one 'bro', for random drunken talks, fights, secrets, women etc. The problem for LA estate agent Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) is that that perfect guy friend has eluded him for most of his life.

The backbone for this ridiculous yet simply brilliant concept is that Peter is getting married, and the discovery of his relatively friendless life from his fiancée Zooey, (Rashida Jones) his brother Robbie, (Andy Samberg) and his dad (J.K Simmons) sets in motion the search for the perfect best friend to be his best man.

Through an array of different 'dates,' (one particularly hilarious gay encounter with the comedic Thomas Lennon) this film used a different approach to a run of the mill best friend story,in maintains the romance element for comedy purpose as obviously this isn't a mainstream romance.

Rudd then happens across the eccentric Sydney Fife(Jason Segel) who has the demeanour of a hapless monkey who is trying to find his way in the world.

Through this meeting sets off a chain of events involving hilarious nicknames, Rush concerts and a 'dude corner' hand lotion and tissues included!

Director John Hamburg utilises dead pan humour with site gags which work in this light-hearted comedy's favour.

We also can't forget excellent supporting cast turn ins from Jon Favreau,(Iron Man) Jamie Pressly and a larger than life extended cameo from the original Hulk himself Lou Ferrigno playing himself, as Rudd is trying to sell his house.

Segel as usual dives into his comedy persona of Fife, his clear improvisation scenes alongside Rudd are arguably the best scenes of the film, JK Simmons delivers an hilarious performance as Rudd's dad.

This is a different take on a best friend comedy that definitely hits the spot.