"Bromantic Comedy" successfully fits the formula

Rating: 7/10 (28 March 2009)

We all knew he could do it, but Paul Rudd proves his leading man status in "I Love You, Man," perhaps the first successful Judd Apatow movie not produced by Judd Apatow. Taking actors like Rudd and Jason Segel ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall") and mixing in R-rated humor and plenty of improv, even the triumvirate of Ivan Reitman, the director of "Along Came Polly" and the writer behind the Dr. Doolittle films can put together Apatow's formula and score a good trendy comedy.
While the Apatow regulars aren't there, the cast is fluffed with comedians from all corners of the comedic world: JK Simmons (Jason Reitman films), Andy Samberg and Jane Curtin (SNL of two different eras), Jon Favreau (usually in tandem with Vince Vaughn) and even Jay Chandrasehkar ("Broken Lizard" comedies) makes an appearance. These are all familiar faces, but never before have they all been in the same film. It's true comedic hodge-podge, though the big laughs still come from the improvisational talents of Rudd and Segel.
The film is a "bromantic comedy," meaning that instead of a girl coming into the picture and screwing up two best guy friends' relationship, "I Love You, Man" is about Peter Klaven, a man whose relationship with a new best guy friend comes in between his seemingly perfect engagement to Zooey (Rashida Jones). Peter, who has always been the perfect boyfriend, has never had a successful friendship with a guy. Even his gay brother Robbie (Samberg) is more masculine and better at talking to straight guys. Rudd perfectly plays up the softie who dares to be a dude and fails miserably, coming up with nonsensical catch phrases and nicknames as he tries to fit in with his new friend, Sydney (Segel).
The plot is a fresh twist off an old formula, this time playing into the recent pop culture idea of guys being "bros." Rudd perfectly fits this mold: he has always been able to fit whatever role he wants, and now as a leading man, he gets a chance to show off his flexibility. Only he, too, can make saying "slappin' the bass" funny the 15th time. Different from his Apatow films, however, "I Love You, Man" is more the sentimental type, leaning more toward the romance side of comedy. It stays away from the extreme dirtiness that have given Apatow comedies the "Apatow" label. That only makes sense though coming from director John Hamburg, most known for writing the PG-13 "Meet the Parents" films and Barry Levin (writer behind "Dr. Doolittle" and its sequel).
"I Love You, Man" is the best comedy of 2009 so far, a great date movie in that it amply makes fun of both sexes and has ways of appealing to both as well. It's not without some weak spots, however. Instead of just being weird, for example, the characters acknowledge that they're being weird (Paul Rudd says "Did I just say that?" or "What does that mean?" a lot) and the humor loses some of its effect. There are also one too many musical tributes to the band Rush. In general, "I Love You, Man" is good, but it does expose that behind this decade's best comedies is a simple formula that's bound to get rusty soon.