I Love You, Man

Here's a film that is better than its trailer, remarkably so. And, despite several indications, Judd Apatow has nothing to do with it. In fact, it's somewhat of a mirror image of films that come out of the Apatow factory. His films deal with man-children who reluctantly are civilized by women. In I Love You, Man, a man who is perfectly comfortable with women is indoctrinated into the world of man-children.

Paul Rudd plays Peter, a real-estate agent who has popped the question to Zooey (Rashida Jones). He's the kind of guy who enjoys eating summer salad with his girlfriend while watching the movie Chocolat, or making root beer floats for her girlfriends (topped with chocolate straws from Pepperidge Farms). When wedding plans are underway, he realizes he has no real male friends (he has a much younger gay brother, played by Andy Samberg). Extrapolating on the classic Seinfeld episode co-starring Keith Hernandez, he confronts the absurd situation of how adult men go about making new friends.

Peter in encouraged by Zooey to make guy friends, but the efforts are comically disastrous. Then, at an open house (he is selling the home of Lou Ferrigno), he meets Sidney (Jason Segel). Sidney and Peter share some similarities, most notably a love for the band Rush, but click more because Sidney complements Peter. Sidney is completely comfortable in his own skin, so much so that he willingly shares his masturbation habits and has no qualms about wearing Uggs in public (even on the beach). Peter becomes enlightened through the relationship, and things start to get strained with Zooey. In a switch on rom-com cliches, it's Peter and Sidney who go through the break-up and reconciliation.

There is a lot credit to throw around with this film, which I found to be completely charming and frequently funny. The director and co-writer is John Hamburg, best known for being involved with several films with Ben Stiller, none of which I've seen (Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers, Zoolander, and Along Came Polly). Thank god Stiller did not play Peter, which is the kind of role he usually plays and mercilessly overacts. Instead, Paul Rudd is a pleasure. I've always liked Rudd, and think that Forgetting Sarah Marshall could have been much better had he played the lead, instead of Segel. In this film, Segel's strengths are much better served, and he's marvelous as the in-your-face Sidney. The role is a tricky one--he has to be somewhat abrasive, but he has to sell that Peter would like him, and it works.

In a somewhat thankless role, Jones is also a delight. Mostly she's called on to be supportive, and at times seems like the fiancee of fantasy and myth, but her performance is canny enough to keep it real. Jaime Pressly and Jon Favreau have some amusing moments as a battling couple, and the always steady J.K. Simmons livens up his scenes as Rudd's dad.

The film isn't perfect--I was resistant to it at the beginning, because I found Rudd to be a bit too much like Steve Carell's character on The Office, what with his mangling street slang and inability to do accents. But the film gradually picked up steam and really started working for me when Segel makes his entrance. And I give props to any film that makes such good use of Lou Ferrigno.