The Comical Fate of the Sensitive Male

Rating: 8/10 (30 March 2009)

At the core of what looks on the surface to be a standard summer buddy movie is an intriguing premise: What does become of the overly sensitized male when confronted with the reality that all his closest friends are female and that he is at a complete loss to find any groomsmen, in particular, a best man, for his wedding? It's not an earth-shattering dilemma to address, yet the situation gives rise to a lot of amusing questions about what constitutes masculine behavior in our supposedly evolved society. Fortunately, director/co-writer John Hamburg ("Along Came Polly") has fashioned a 2009 comedy (with co-writer Larry Levin) full of shrewd observations and hilarious gags that transcend formula and elevate the story into something fresh and genuinely likable.
When sweet-natured L.A. real estate broker Peter Klaven decides to marry Zooey, his girlfriend of eight months, it dawns on both of them that he has no close male friends. Whispers about his manhood and her fear of him being too clingy as a husband lead Peter to set up a series of disastrous man-dates, one being the predictable mistaken gay date. However, it's at an open house at Lou Ferrigno's manse that he meets his personality opposite  Sydney Fife, a slovenly, blunt albeit socially observant slacker. As it turns out, their differences complement one another in a way that makes them best buddies almost from the get-go  that and a common obsession for the 1970's power band Rush. Naturally, Zooey starts to resent Sydney's burgeoning role in Peter's life - and things get complicated before the inevitable conclusion.
Two of Judd Apatow's familiar rep company star. Finally at the center of a major movie, Paul Rudd is ideally cast as Peter since the role takes advantage of how he combines his boyish charm and unpredictable nebbishness into a memorable character. In fact, he makes Peter's awkward attempts to overcome his social anxiety a certain emotional resonance. We feel every painful step he takes in replicating Sydney's free spirit, and it becomes easy to root for his success. Much better cast here than as the self-conscious lead in last year's "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", Jason Segel offers his doughy likability to a role that suits his casual, lumbering personality, even when he exposes an intimate secret between Peter and Zooey in a wedding party dinner toast.
If the interplay between Rudd and Segel feels familiar from Apatow comedies like "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up", it is a coincidence that Hamburg takes full advantage of to keep the movie comically involving. Rashida Jones brings a raspy appeal to Zooey, although she is kept mostly at the sidelines. Also underused are Jaime Pressly as Zooey's tart-tongued friend Denise and as Peter's parents, J.K. Simmons (playing the same wiseass father he played in "Juno") and especially Jane Curtin. Jon Favreau has a thankless role as Denise's alpha-male jerk of a husband, while Andy Samberg makes a most unconvincing gay as Peter's sleep-around, personal trainer brother. There are plenty of laughs throughout its slightly long 105-minute running time, but what may surprise you is the number of insightful moments that this affectionate, satirical comedy provides.