Review of I Love You, Man (2009) by Shantel D — 04 Jan 2013

A watchable comedy. It has a generic premise and few memorable points, but does have a particularly funny performance from Paul Rudd, who rarely disappoints.

Peter (Rudd) is getting married but his fiancee points out to him that he has, effectively, no friends, also pointing out that he'll need a best man for the wedding. Peter, who seems not to have noticed this fact until now, sets off on a quest to find friends, with the help of his fiancee, her friends, and even his mother. Inevitably, this leads to gay situations, extreme booze-ups and romantic walks along the beach. Finally, whilst working at an Open House, Peter, a real estate agent, meets Sydney (Segel), an easy-going, funny guy- a perfect candidate for best man!

Zooey (Jones) is at first delighted about Sydney but, predictably, she eventually feels he is taking over Peter's life and that the latter is losing interest in her. So sad. Peter is left in an awful situation. He can ditch Sydney and be left with no best man or he can maintain very sour relations with his fiancee. What is going to happen?

The story really is pretty weak, though that isn't really surprise. It's not made to be a deep, thought-provoking film. It's easy to watch, fairly well-written and there is good chemistry on screen. As I said, Rudd puts in a good performance, with lots of good one-liners- this is the kind of role he is made for. Segel's is pretty good as well, and there is good interplay between him and Rudd. I was disappointed with the female characters, however, who all seemed generic and stereotypical. This is a letdown as it is usually a strong cast that makes films like this one memorable.

Overall, a watchable work from John Hamburg. Give it a go.