The Duplass Brothers’ directed the indie thriller Baghead and  soon to be released Cyrus starring John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill and Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei. Jeff Who Lives At Home is being produced byJohn Malkovich’s company Mr. Mudd and Jason Reitman’s Right of Way Films. I believe in jinxes but I also believe this movie can’t miss. Since we’re talking about the Duplass Brothers and television actors I have to say that The League on FX starring Mark Duplass is in my opinion one of the great new sitcoms joining the likes of Modern Family, Glee and Community.

What say you?

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I Love You, Man

Judd Apatow is by all accounts the new Kevin Smith. For a time in the nineties, Smith had a stranglehold on the comedy world with Clerks, Chasing Amy and (to a lesser degree) Mallrats. His films may not have been high art, but it seemed like most comedies around that time tried to emulate Smith’s dialogue and crude humor. Apatow has now reached that status and I Love You, Man is the most prominent example of that yet. Outside of having Paul Rudd in the film, this movie is not associated with Judd or his compatriots.

The film opens with Peter Klaven (Rudd), a submissive, feminine relator proposing to his girlfriend Zooey (Rashida Jones) who agrees to marry him. So Zooey tells her friends Denise (Jamie Pressly)  and Hailey (Sarah Burns) while Peter can only celebrate with his gay brother Robbie (Andy Samburg) and his parents (Jane Curtain and the always delightful J. K. Simmons.) We see Peter has always had girls for friends and never had real guy friends. This poses a problem as Peter has to find a Best Man for his wedding. At an open house where Peter will sell Lou Ferrigno’s estate, Peter runs into Sydney Fife (Jason Segal) a metrosexual who is there just to have the food and who seems to connect very well with Peter. So the two hang out, a lot, and bond. It seems as if all of Peter’s troubles.

The prevalent problem with I Love You, Man stems from how nothing is really changed by the end of it nor does anything feel accomplished. That may have been the point, but in most good comedies these days the lead is usually changed and the main cast learned something about themselves. Here, everyone remains genuinely the same aside from Peter now having a friend. The filmmakers have opportunities to drive a point home and yet they don’t. Not to say that it would have been cheesy or anything, but it feels very empty once the final frame comes up.

It’s weird to think about and say, but I’ve attended a wedding where the best man was in fact a woman. In that instance I have to ask why couldn’t Peter find one of his gal pals to be there for him? If it was to be more traditional then fine, but the film never says that or even hints at that as a possibility. What also doesn’t help is that it takes way too long for Sydney and Peter to finally hook-up. Sure, there’s a series of funny dates but it feels as if an hour passes before these two actually meet. Then, ironically, the film speeds through everything else. As seems to be a staple of these flicks, Zooey and Peter break-up until to reconcile ten minutes later. Like much of the film, there’s no real build-up to that – or anything else that happens.

There are a ton of laughs to be had though, and that’s where the film succeeds. Paul Rudd seemed born to play the role of Peter who’s more feminine than his wife is. He’s a treat to watch as he tries to be masculine but comes off as awkward. Jason Segal is the complete opposite, but never feels as loud or obnoxious as essentially the Seth Rogen character. He’s more reserved than Rogen’s character but is still macho and portrays himself as ‘the man’. A nice little touch, though, is that Sydney comes off very metrosexual. When he discusses porking a nurse you wonder if he means male or female until we’re actually shown which team he plays for. It helped add a level of depth to what is an otherwise selfish character.

Rashida Jones is decent as Zooey, but is way too accepting of what happens between Syndey and Paul at first. She doesn’t question it, and just takes it like “oh yay, now I don’t have this schlub around when I’m with the girls.” Even when she should be mad about her husband spending too much time with his new friend, Jones just plays it as more of an opinion rather than concern. In fact, that sort of defeats the film’s purpose. So much time is spent trying to find Peter the perfect male friend and yet when he finally finds his mate, she gets upset. Wouldn’t be a problem except most of Zooey’s scenes consist of her with her friends, like she’s putting her friends over Peter.

The supporting characters range from ok to fun. The standouts are Jamie Pressly and Jon Faverau as a married couple that epitomizes two people who are in it just for the sex. Pressly’s Diane is the perfect stuck-up bitch who has no right to be and Faverau is the ultimate alpha male in Barry. Watching him blow up in front of his friends when Peter schools him in a game of poker is one of the best laugh’s the film has. Sarah Burns is serviceable as Hailey, but like her character she’s too bland. The standouts are the dates Peter has, notably Doug (Thomas Lennon) and Mel Stein (Murray Gershnez). Doug is full-on homosexual and lays one of the funniest ever on-screen male kisses on Peter. Mel is a foul-mouthed old man who’s looking for any sort of companionship he can find. Plus, when’s the last time we’ve had an eighty-plus year old man sprout the f-word left and right?

I Love You, Man does it’s job, but ultimately feels like a big missed opportunity. The leads have great chemistry and come off as two best buds, but the film doesn’t feel like it’s out to accomplish anything after the two get together. They could have easily ended the film right after Sydney and Peter hang out and it would have come across with the same effect. They only shoot for laughs, and they do get them but the story has no merit and could have just as easily not happened. It’s a success, but only on the scale that it’s audience will laugh. Otherwise, it’s not going to hold up in future years.

 ★★½☆☆ 

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Paul Rudd and Jason Segel

Paul Rudd plays real estate agent Peter Klaven who is about to marry his 8-month girlfriend Zooey played by Rashida Jones. They have found true love and have a plan to be together forever. Zooey has tons of friends and six of them are to be her Maids of Honor. Peter, on the other hand, doesn’t have any guy friends. He is only close to his family and neither his brother, played by Andy Samberg, nor his father, played by J. K.  Simmons, fit the bill as “best friend” to be Peter’s Best Man.

Enter Sydney Fife played by Jason Segel. Sydney meets Peter at the open house of TV Star Lou Ferrigno, a house that Peter is currently selling. Peter and Sydney become friends and start to hang out on a daily basis. Their friendship blooms over a bond they have for fish tacos, Canadian music sensation Rush, and playing guitar and bass to Rush’s music. Zooey loves that Peter now has a friend that he is close to.

There are some funny lines in this movie as Peter is constantly trying to come up with a cool nickname for Sydney. Early in the movie Peter’s mom and brother are trying to help out by setting Peter up on blind dates with guys to see if there is a connection. This does cause for some awkward moments and funny tension between Peter and the men he is out with.

This movie follows the life and friendship of Peter and Sydney and how they must act with Zooey. Can the three of them come to terms to have a happy marriage? Only time and, I’m sure, a sequel will tell.

With that, what did I think of the movie? It had some funny moments and situations. It tries very hard at being a romantic comedy that everyone will agree on while also keeping the humor neither over-the-top nor muted. This movies manages to show that guys have feelings too and sometimes we need a friend of our own to just hang out and do guy things with. I thought the pace of the movie was fast and didn’t drag or try to give us a setup for the crude punchline. “I Love You Man” is worth seeing this with a crowd that will get the jokes and laugh with you making it a great time to be had by all.

“I Love You Man” is rated R with a runtime of 104 minutes.

 ★★★☆☆ 

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Of course, the story is still predictable. Peter Klaven (Rudd) is a great boyfriend without any friends. When Klaven overhears his new fiancé (Rashida Jones) and her friends worrying about his lack of guy pals, he goes on a mission to find a best friend and best man for his wedding.

I’m pretty sure you can guess the rest — a comical group of failed friendships leads right to Sydney Fife (Segal), the friend of Klaven’s dreams, and the two engage in a series of hilarious hijinks together. Like I said, it’s a predictable story that includes the tired vomit-in-the-face gag. But it works for two reasons.

1. Director John Hamburg and writer Larry Levin tell a real story. It’s predictable, but it’s something that could have actually happened to your cousin’s friend’s co-worker who actually almost vomited in some guy’s face and then exaggerated the story over time. It’s funny. It’s just a real, predictable, funny story.
2. Rudd and Segel completely nail it. Rudd plays the calm, quirky guy who reminds you of someone you know, cool but a bit socially awkward. Segel, meanwhile, plays off of it perfectly by being a slightly over-the-top but totally lovable wild guy.

And while the supporting cast were mostly overshadowed by Rudd and Segel, there were a few performances worth mentioning. Rashida Jones is great as Rudd’s conflicted fiancé, in her first major film role, and Andy Samberg doesn’t overdo it as Rudd’s gay, body-building brother. And who can forget Lou Ferrigno’s stunning performance as himself? In fact, the supporting cast played their roles perfectly by staying out of the way, something that seems surprisingly hard to do.

But as these two strong characters begin to build their friendship, the dialogue does take a turn toward the kind of conversation you’d expect to hear in a garage known as “The Man Cave”. If you’re offended by even the brief mention of a “masturbation station,” you’ll probably find yourself wincing in more than a few places. But if you’ve made it through an episode of The Family Guy lately, you shouldn’t worry. I Love You, Man is far less ridiculous and a whole lot funnier.

As a friend of mine described it, I Love You, Man is a romantic comedy for guys. And it’s true, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s the best comedy of the year so far.

 ★★★★½ 

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Jason Segel and Paul Rudd

One of the years most anticipated movies, at least in my eyes, is I Love You, Man. And the in your face, blunt humor is why. Check out the Red Band Trailer below and let me know what you think.

This may be the comedy of the year. Would you agree?

What did you think about the trailer? Were your sides splitting or is this just another raunchy comedy?

“I Love You, Man” written by Larry Levin and directed by John Hamburg is scheduled to hit theaters on March 20th, 2009.

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DreamWorks has debuted the trailer for Paul Rudd’s newest comedy I Love You, Man. I love you, Man stars the likes of Andy Samberg, Jason Segel, and Thomas Lennon. With Role Models not far removed, we see Rudd bringing the laughs once again in his unique way.

One of the guys at the office is calling this the funniest movies of ‘09 already. He claims his sides literally hurt after leaving the screening. While this trailer didn’t actually make me laugh that much, it could lend itself to a very funny film.

You can also watch the I Love You, Man trailer in HD over at Yahoo.

I Love You, Man opens nationwide on March 20, 2009.

What do you think? Talkback and let us know!

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Peter Bretter (Jason Segel) is a struggling musician who makes the between scenes music (think Law and Order’s dun dun) for the hit crime show Crime Scene. His five-year relationship to Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), the star of Crime Scene, has just ended with the ever-so-devastating “I love you but I’m not in love with you” speech.

Thrown into misery and consoled by his step-brother Brian Bretter (Bill Hader), Peter starts visiting clubs and bars in hopes of finding his next true love. After three weeks of finding horrible one-night stands, Peter decides to hop a flight from Los Angeles to Hawaii and get away for a brief trip to clear his head.

Peter inadvertently checks into the same hotel that Sarah and her new boyfriend Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), the hot lead singer of a pop group, happen to be staying at. Not the start to a restful getaway that Peter expected and now feeling low and embarrassed is ready to leave Hawaii. As luck would have it he is saved by perky hotel clerk Rachel Jansen (Mila Kunis) as she helps by giving him a complementary room.

As with all romantic comedies, the standard formula (Boy loves Girl, boy loses girl, boy finds new girl) is there. And this does result in lots of good one-liners and funny situations as they are layered throughout the movie.

As with any Judd Apatow movie, the minor-characters that make up the real world have scenes that enhance the comedy. There is a minor sub-plot between a recently married couple staying at the hotel having some honeymoon sexual issues. The husband is a bit shy in the sack and seeks Aldous’ advice on how to keep the new wife happy. I won’t give away the outcome but I will say that the accompanying training montage will result in tears rolling from your eyes due to laughter.
This is a fun movie that you and your significant other will enjoy seeing together as it has the best for both worlds. Forgetting Sarah Marshall is rated “R”, has a runtime of 2-hour, and is distributed by Universal Pictures.

 ☆☆☆☆☆ 

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