I Love You, Man

In theaters Friday: The Final Destination, Halloween II, Taking Woodstock

New on DVD/Blu-ray: Adventureland, Duplicity, Sunshine Cleaning

The phrase “I love you, man” was once uttered only mano e mano after that ill-advised fifth beer and a soul-crushing break-up. The kind where she cheated on you. Twice. But it’s the age of the “bromance,” so I Love You, Man is a movie title, and frankly much more like a catch phrase than the bellwether of any emotional breakthrough. John Hamburg who wrote Meet the Parents and Zoolander, directs this story of friendless wonder, Paul Rudd, a mid-30s guy who’s nice enough but has a real problem making friends. As he stares down his wedding date with no best man candidates in sight, he decides to go on a series of “man dates” to find a suitable groomsman. After several misfires and an unprovoked kiss, enter wildcat Jason Segel, whose fast friendship with Rudd causes more than a few kinks the wedding plans of his fiancée, Parks and Recreation star Rashida Jones, who’ll always be Karen from The Office to me.

The premise of I Love You, Man is inspired, but the execution leaves it a marginally enjoyable but forgettable entry into the new R-rated comedy lexicon. What I like about the film is its almost Seinfeldian, “it’s funny because it’s true” backbone. Once you’re out of college, working full-time and in a relationship, it is very difficult to meet and make new friends. Everyone has their own little world and if the orbits don’t intersect precisely, like the edges of a Venn diagram, then instead of being buds, you’ll be that guy he nods to at the coffee shop with nothing else to say, or just another Twitter follower. Ouch.

So there is plenty of quarter-life crisis angst to mine here, and Rudd is funny as always, but the film just doesn’t go anywhere interesting. Jones turns in a solid performance, but unfortunately Aziz Ansari, JK Simmons and Jon Favreau are all underutilized. Favreau’s jerk steals every scene he’s in, but that’s only about 5 minutes of screen time. And honestly, I’ve never been a big Jason Segel fan. Even as Nick Andopolis on my beloved Freaks and Geeks, his nerd-rock moping and lazy stoner persona really grated on me. No matter the part, Segel always comes across as schlubby, and without Jack Black-level chops, he can’t make schlubby appear charming.

I rented this movie on a Friday night, and really that’s probably its best timeslot. After a long week you just want to watch something you don’t have to think too hard about. That doesn’t say much for the quality of the movie, but it does say something about its purpose. For that, I Love You, Man is a success.