I Love You, Man

Plot synopsis:
The movie begins with Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) pulling into an abandoned property with his girlfriend Zooey (Rashida Jones). He tells her about his plans for this place and says that if he lands his next client, a huge movie star, he will be able to afford all that as well as their reception. She looks at him, puzzled, until he gets down on one knee and proposes. Zooey happily accepts, and spends their entire drive home calling her girl friends on speakerphone. Since they dont know that Peter can hear them, they begin to spill all the details about the relationship that Zooey has told them over the months. Peter is embarrassed, but just bears with it.When they arrive at their home, Zooey asks Peter if he wants to give anyone a call. He tells her his parents are probably sleeping, so he can just let them know tomorrow. When she clarifies, saying that she meant any guy friends, he tells her he doesnt really have any. This is further explained at dinner with Peters parents the next night. We learn that Peter has always had a girlfriend, and he always put them first. As a result, all of his guy friends ended up bailing. His father begins to joke about it saying that even Peters gay younger brother Robbie has never had as much trouble making friends. His father takes it a step further, saying that Robbie is one of his two best friends. The other being a childhood buddy he still calls all the time.The next day at work, we see that Peter gets along really well with all the women of the office, but when he goes to talk to Tevin, one of his co-workers, he becomes really annoyed. Tevin keeps telling Peter that he doesnt know how to market himself, that hes too boring, and hell never sell houses with traditional advertising. Tevin talks boastfully about putting his face on buses and urinal cakes, effectively weirding Peter out.Later with his fencing partners, he finds that they dont really consider him a friend because hes never made an effort to hang out with any of them outside of the gym. Still, Peter is not truly bothered by his lack of male friends until he gets home early and overhears Zooeys friends talking about how strange he is. Theyre concerned that the wedding party will be unbalanced and they all say that guys without friends are too clingy, and that its weird that Peters best friend is his mom.Knowing that he must make a change, Peter sets out on a series of man dates to find his Best Man. He learns the term from Robbie, who manages to make a married, straight man flirt with him in less than 5 minutes. The rules of the man date are a casual lunch or drinks after work, but NEVER dinner. Peter learns the reason for this rule the hard way as he goes out for dinner with a very amiable man his mother introduced to him, only to be surprised with an intense, all-out kiss at the end of the night. Robbies date for Peter is one of his gym clients, a soccer fan who has a very high-pitched voice. The date ends in disaster when the man tries to get the crowd to cheer but ends up getting them boo-ed by everyone else.Zooey sets Peter up with her friends husband, Barry, and his poker friends. Barry is VERY reluctant to let Peter join them, and acts like a total a**hole the entire time. He jokes about Peter not knowing how to play poker, then just when hes thought hes won, we find out that Peters hand beat his. They have a drinking contest and Peter wins, but since hes not used to drinking so much, he throws up all over Barry and gets kicked out. Finally, Peter goes to meet a man from the internet, only to find that the man used an old photo and is much older.Disappointed by all the date disasters, Peters just about given up when he hosts an open house for his client and meets Sidney Fife (Jason Segal), a very blunt and friendly guy. Peter is, of course, awkward at first, but the two begin chatting freely when Peter points out that Sidney is the only person whos eaten the sandwiches and Sidney compliments Peter on his panini choice. At the end of the conversation, Sidney admits that hes only at the open house to check out women, and that he has no intention of purchasing the house. They exchange business cards anyway before going their separate ways.Weeks later, Peter is going through a bit of a slump. The clients house isnt selling, and Tevin wants in on the property, but doing so would mean that Peter wont get enough money to buy the land he wanted. He holds off, and after awkwardly practicing for a few minutes, gets the nerve to call Sidney up. He ends up leaving a very convoluted message, but Sidney calls him back anyway. They go to Venice Beach and Sidney tells Peter that he never picks up after his dog and shows him how to really yell to let go of stress. They have a great time together, and it isnt long before the two are hanging out all the time. They put on jam sessions at Sidneys and even go hiking with some of Sidneys old friends.Meanwhile, Zooey is worried about Peter spending so much time with Sidney because Peter has started ditching their weekly HBO nights to hang out with him. Peter invites Sidney to their engagement dinner. They try to set Sidney up with one of Zooeys friends, but she is giggly and sporadic the entire time, and Sidney is completely uninterested. At the end of the dinner, Sidney makes a toast praising Peter and suggesting that Zooey pleasure Peter more often. The drive home is awkward and silent, with Peter finally coming out and admitting that he told Sidney about the lack of oral sex. They discuss it, and Zooey tells him that shes not against it. In fact, she enjoys it, but her last boyfriend didnt, and thats why she avoids it. Peter tells Zooey not to be angry at Sidney because if it werent for his toast, this topic never would have come up. She agrees, and they make up. Zooey thinks that her friend got along very well with Sidney and that they should go out on a group date, so Peter agrees, even though he knows that Sidney hates going on these kind of dates.Peter sets up a golf date for them, and although Sidney agrees to go, the day ends in disaster, with Peter and Zooey returning home angrily. Later, Sidney calls Peter up and tells them that Rush, their favorite band, is putting on a show tonight. Peter is about to decline, saying that its HBO night, but Sidney convinces him to go. Peter brings Zooey, but ignores her the entire night, choosing instead to air-rock with Sidney. Zooey is visibly confused and upset with her fiancés behavior.Peter takes Sidney with him to buy the tux for the wedding, and although Sidney wants Peter to wear a blue suit, Peter doesnt know if he can pull it off. Sidney asks Peter how their relationship is, and Peter admits that its been rocky lately. Sidney then asks Peter why hes marrying Zooey, and Peter cant come up with an answer. Sidney also asks Peter for a loan of $8000 for an investment project. Peter is reluctant, but agrees. As they are about to leave the store, the man who kissed Peter on one of the "man dates" earlier comes up to them and tells Peter off. After explaining everything to Sidney, Peter asks him to be his Best Man. Sidney is honored and gives Peter a huge hug just as the man walks by again. Later, Sidney and Peter are walking along when they see Peters client talking with Tevin. An enraged Sidney runs up to them and begins taunting the client, whos buff enough to wrestle Sidney and puts him in a sleeper hold. Peter apologizes profusely before leaving, but is unsure of whether or not he still has the client.That night, Zooey and Peter have a fight when Zooey finds out about the loan to Sidney. Peter asks Zooey why they are getting married, and she tells him that until he figures it out, shes going to go stay with her best friend. Unsure of what to do, Peter goes to Sidneys to break off the friendship. On the way, however, he spots some outrageous billboards. All of them have Peter in ridiculous poses, mostly spoofing movies and whatnot. Peter realizes that this was Sidneys doing, and becomes increasingly embarrassed as he drives. Once he arrives at Sidneys house, he tells Sidney that they were really using each other for ulterior motives - Peter to find a best man in time for the wedding, and Sidney because all his high school friends were moving on, and Sidney was afraid of not having anyone to hang out with anymore. Peter is outraged about the billboards and says that Sidney basically ruined his life. Peter then tells Sidney that he knows why he wants to marry Zooey. Its because one of the best nights of his life was spent with Zooey. They ate a summer salad, had some wine, and watched Chocolat together. Sidney doesnt want to accept this and keeps arguing with Peter, but finally they go their separate ways.Next, Peter goes to apologize to Zooey. He admits that he was wrong and tells her that he still wants to marry her. He also tells her that hes broken up the friendship with Sidney, so she wont have to worry about it anymore. When he returns to work, however, he realizes that the billboards were a hit! He has tons of messages, all from people responding positively to the unique advertisements.At the wedding, Zooeys bridesmaids look outside to see who Peter ended up choosing for his groomsmen. We see that he picked his brother, his father, his client, and all the men he went on man dates with earlier in the movie. Everyone agrees that theyve never seen such a random group of men, and they share a laugh, happy that Peter managed to get some friends. When everyone heads inside, however, Zooey looks outside and she catches a desolate Peter staring out at the ocean and air-rocking with himself. Cut to Sidney on his moped. He sees a call from the hotel where Peters having the wedding, and he says that hes surprised to be getting this call. Sidney is being re-invited to the wedding! He says he might not be able to make it, but when the camera pans out, we see that Sidney is already on the way, fully decked out in a tux. Meanwhile, everyone is standing at the alter, ready for the ceremony to begin, but since Sidney isnt there yet, Peter asks his brother to hold the ring, a gesture Robbie appreciates deeply. They share a hug, and their dad agrees that both of his sons are his best friends.Just as the pastor begins the ceremony, Sidney arrives on his moped. Peter is surprised, and we learn that it was Zooey who called Sidney. She wanted him to be there for Peter because it was so hard for Peter to make friends and after all, Sidney was a good guy. Sidney goes up to the front and gives Peter a check for the billboards, repaying him in full. Peter admits that the billboards really worked, and Sidney says itll be their wedding gift. He takes his place in line, and the couple is happily wedded. Peter and Sidney jam out on the stage as the credits roll.

Tags: bleak, comedy, boring, feel-good

Review:
Eventually, after a number of faltering attempts, Kevin alights on Sydney (Jason Segel), a mucho macho bundle of testosterone who, like a latter-day Henry Higgins to Kevin's Eliza Doolittle, instructs the awkward lad on the fine art of "being a man." But as with any good teacher/pupil relationship, each side winds up learning a little something from the other before it's all over.A straight man far more comfortable in the company of women than of men, Kevin emerges as the ultimate metrosexual figure: fastidious in demeanor, sensitive to the needs of others, and courteous to a fault (he even admits to liking "The Devil Wears Prada" in a moment of unguarded weakness).
That being said, the performances are all first-rate, with Rudd and Segel playing to their respective strengths - Rudd's of the tongue-tied, self-effacing Mr. Nice Guy who needs lessons in "manning up," and Segel's of the refreshingly blunt but socially indelicate Man/Child who clearly needs to do some growing up.There's additional excellent work from J.K. Simmons, Jamie Pressly, Sarah Burns and Rob Huebel, among others.It's also a bit of a casting coup to get both Jane Curtin from the first generation of SNL players and Andy Samberg from the current one together in the same film.
A Nutshell Review: I Love You, Man. I Love You, Man is a delightful film not just for its brand of humour which worked almost all the time, nor because it stars the bunch of contemporary jokers who have taken Hollywood by storm, but because it had a meaningful story to tell, and has translated that key insight of friendships and relationships for the big screen effortlessly, wrapping up some deep, intrinsic behavioural observation deceptively behind a curtain of laughter.Like the 40 Year Old Virgin in its quest for a woman to get laid with to pop his cherry, this film works on the reverse in its protagonist's quest for a male friend, since Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) has no problems with female friendship as he's the quintessential ladies man, only that he's about to marry his fiancé Zooey (Rashida Jones).
They have some of the best lines and insane moments in the film, and poor Jon has got to suffer two verbal abuses (for you to watch and find out).Many of us who have remembered Jason Segel's comical turn in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and here he cuts his Sydney Fife both ways, one an alpha male type who seems way cool with his frat boy sensibilities, which is actually a facade for a lonely life he leads in his garage where he can be the man he actually is.
As a comedy, this film hit plenty of right spots in eliciting laughter from the audience, with funny lines that do work, and carefully crafted characters in Peter (with his nonsensical one- liner conversation endings, and nicknames), and Sydney being quite multi-dimensional.
And what's a film like this about man-friends without that dose of fanboy-dom in it, with the Incredible Hulk Lou Ferrigno playing himself in a very short supporting role, and many other film references thrown in for good measure too?I Love You, Man is an excellent story on friendship, and what makes friendship tick.
It's a delightful comedy that will make you laugh throughout and brighten your day.Whether it be the great buddy chemistry between the leads, or the simply hysterical supporting cast, I found myself loving this movie.
Like director John Hamburg's previous effort, 'Along Came Polly', the movie is incredibly likable because it relies on the awkward humor that Paul Rudd does pretty much perfectly, playing off the happy-go-lucky humor of Jason Segel.Rudd is likable and reliable as usual in a role showcasing the best of his abilities (I really can't say how happy I am that he's finally getting leading roles), and unlike in 'Role Models', he's the undisputed lead here.
It's the foundation of characters played by Thomas Lennon, Joe Lo Truglio, Jon Favreau, Jaime Pressly, and Andy Samberg that completes the movie and makes it worth watching (because, let's face it, the movie wouldn't be that great if Rudd and Segel just sat around bro-ing out for 2 hours).
After a few disastrous "man dates," he runs into Sydney (Jason Segel), a fun loving guy with a lot of advice on how to break loose and have fun.The best thing about this movie is that everything unfolds naturally.
As the gay brother who is on hand to give advice about "man dating," Andy Samberg is far less irritating and obnoxious than he was in the utterly awful "Hot Rod," which is near the top of my list of one of the worst movies ever made.John Hamburg is making a comedy, and like the best ones, he lets everything flow naturally.
Every once in a while,I'm relieved to say,you do run across a film that decides to mine the margins of these love stories to make a movie.I submit to you I Love You Man,made with the sensibility--and at least two members of the stable of actors--of a Judd Apatow/Greg Mottola film,and VERY appreciated.Peter Klaven(Paul Rudd,the nicest,most likable mensch in movies and TV today,with a punum you could just....)is a reasonably successful Real Estate agent in Southern California whose engagement to Zoe(Rashida Jones,the girlfriend from Heaven)couldn't be going better.
The phrase 'hilarity ensues' is overused but,in these instances,they apply.Then walks into an open house Sidney Fife(Jason Segel,physically the same from Forgetting Sarah Marshall,but character-wise a near one-eighty),an investment broker whose own,self-actualized sense of zen and bro-supreme self-sufficiency hits it off perfectly with Peter,balancing the groom-to-be's pleasant but feminine recessive qualities.Featuring a supporting cast that doesn't try to stand out but still does: Curtin,Samber,J.K.Simmons(as Peter's dad),Tom Lennon(as a potential guy friend "suitor"),Sarah Burns(as one of Zoe's more pathetic friends),Jaime Pressly(as Zoe's perpetually angry married friend),Jon Favreau(as Pressly's dickish husband)and Lou Ferrigno(as...well,Lou Ferrigno),this film has a delightful time bringing to screen a "love" story angle that is as fresh,real and relatively ignored in most movies starring(pick any two of the following):Matthew McConaughey,Kate Hudson,Sandra Bullock,Meg Ryan,Hugh Grant,Ryan Reynolds,Renee Zellweger,Richard Gere or Reese Witherspoon.
Not quite as good as Superbed, better than Forrgetting Sara Marshall and about on par with Tropic thunder, leads Paul Rudd and Jason Segel anchor director John Hamburg's film so securely it adds a complete additional layer of heart and gravitas to material that could have been executed disastrously.With both Rudd and Segel in recent years we have seen they can carry a movie, having starred as leads in Role Models and Forgetting Sara Marshall (which Rudd also starred in) respectively and uniting them as co-leads works fantastically.
The duo score massive laughs together and apart and a fantastic supporting cast highlights all the talent involved marvelously.Rudd stars as Peter Klaven a freshly engaged real-estate agent who has always been more of a girls-man then a best buddy guy.
The two hit it off and a bromance is born, but the bond puts a strain on his engagement to Zooey (a lovely and delightful Rashida Jones) and more hilarity ensues.As I mentioned Rudd and Segel are given oodles to work with by way of a supporting cast including Andy Samburg (who has evolved by leaps and bounds since Hot Rod) as Peter's gay brother, John Favreau as a disgusting family acquaintance, J.K. Simmons as Peter's father, and The Hulk, Lou Ferrigno as himself.
I honestly don't know why (maybe I was in a bad mood), but the second time I watched it I had to keep pausing it so I could laugh and it's been like that ever since.Paul Rudd and Jason Segal together are a match made in heaven.
The movie somewhat held my interest for the first part when Paul Rudd is struggling to find a best friend, but as soon as he meets Jason Segal - when you think it will get good - it derails.
Romantic comedies from a male perspective have worked very well in the past (I maintain that 'When Harry Met Sally' is such a movie and not a so called chick flick and 'High Fidelity' is as equally good) so the story of a man due to be wed but without a friend to call a Best Man did draw my interest.The subject does actually have some depth, making friends when already an adult isn't as easy as it once was and we get a few scenes of so called 'man dates' where Peter's innocent intentions are misconstrued as romantic advances and so on.
But the film requires drama, you're constantly waiting for it and when complications do arrive, its all some-what anti-climatic.There's some great support with an under used Jon Favreau (I wish I'd watch Swingers again instead!), a handful of funny scenes (the poker table) and an admirable job from Jason Segel but ultimately, 'I Love You, Man' will make you feel as though a better film could so easily come from the same subject matter.
I enjoyed my time watching it and laughed quite a bit, but if you're looking for the funniest movie of the year, this isn't it.Although the cast is great, you don't get to see enough of hilarious people like John Favreau and Jaime Pressly.
'I love you, man' is another in a string of light-hearted comedies that find the humor in these situations.Rudd plays Peter Klaven, an young Realtor in LA who at the beginning of the film gets engaged to his girlfriend (played by Rashida Jones who you'll probably recognize from 'The Office' or 'Parks and Recreation').
But truth be told it's not even this that makes I Love You, Man so funny.Rudd and Siegel are simply funny guys, but naturally so; there's a new trend to put a somewhat straight face on gross out gags in these movies, Apatow or its spin-off groups (one can equate it to the good rip-offs of Tarantino in the 90s to a certain extent), and it works very well here.
While it definitely is a buddy movie, there is enough of a romantic element and relationship humor to make it acceptable as a date movie for couples that have been together long enough to know each other's quirks.Paul Rudd and Jason Segel both turn in above average performances and mesh well together, and Rashida Jones does fairly well considering it seems that she has not deviated much from her acting chops on "The Office".
It manages this through the main characters being likable in the most part as well as having plenty of pretty funny asides or episodes based on plot or character, which are again delivered well by a cast containing endless faces that will be familiar to anyone who watches US comedy on even a semi-regular basis.I'm not sure that Paul Rudd is close to being an all-round leading man type of actor but certainly this type of film (like some of his other recent turns) plays to his strengths.
With Paul Rudd's impeccable comic timing and genuinely convincing take on his character (which, like the rest of the characters here, is really not brought to life by the writing all that well), it had me in stitches.I don't want to take too much credit away from the screenwriters because this is a (very) funny and enjoyable comedy, but I do have to mention that where "I Love You, Man" falls short of the standard for Apatow productions (and although it's hard to believe this is not one) is in the characterizations.
I do suspect it's all a cunning plot to bring back Lou Ferrigno jokes, but the cast pull even THAT off (that includes Ferrigno himself).The entire movie falls apart just a bit when we get to the inevitable wedding scene, but it's not enough to really undo the movie (which almost veers into "*insert crappy lowbrow maudlin sentimentality-laden wedding comedy here*" territory before quickly recovering), and while "I Love You, Man" only provides a few truly uproarious laughs it is a consistently amusing movie which kept me and the audience I was with giggling and laughing throughout, and Hamburg as director gets the comic timing absolutely right, much like Segel and Rudd do.
Jon Favreau holds up well though.Jason Segel is good in it, but doesn't have the great material he got to write for himself in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.Paul Rudd I expected better from, but again I would say its more the scripts fault.
Because you can best appreciate it if you know all the other films and TV that fed into it."Apatow" is a rule of thumb term: different writers and directors are involved, but Judd produced '40 Year Old Virgin,' 'Knocked Up,' 'Superbad,' 'Walk Hard,' 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall,' and 'Pineapple Express.' (I forgot 'Drillbit Taylor'; it might be best to do so.) It's funny, the fertile ground all these popular movies seems to come from is two TV series that basically flopped, or at least they were canceled after 17 or 18 episodes: 'Freaks and Geeks' and 'Undeclared.' Viewers of these will know Jason Segel as an embarrassingly obsessive boyfriend; and then he got practically a whole movie to himself in 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall,' as a boyfriend who can't--forget his girlfriend, that is.I don't really think any of these movies are better than 'Freaks and Geeks' or 'Undelcared,' which were about high-schoolers and first-year college kids, respectively.
He's super cool, for Peter Kleven, Paul Rudd's character, because he's available for "bromance," defined in The Urban Dictionary as "the complicated love and affection shared by two straight males." Peter's getting married, it's time to find a best man and he realizes he has dated women and not spent much time with guys.
This is a great thing.Paul Rudd is the ideal avatar for modern comedy, a nearly perfect average of every character type; droll and sarcastic but not a jerk, awkward and self-deprecating but not a loser, comfortably profane but without seeming like something's missing when he's not swearing, good looking but not insultingly so, and with a line delivery and comic timing that hits every bullseye a script offers him.
Enter the supernaturally easygoing Sydney, played by Jason Segel doing the exact opposite of his depressed, high- strung Forgetting Sarah Marshall character, and we watch their friendship bloom.Peter and Zooey's romance is a constant, not really focused on, with the movie as a whole being a twist on the generic romantic comedy, refocusing all the tropes of the genre - the cute initial meeting, the tentative bonding, the blissful montage, the tearful fight, the joyous reunion, and so on - from romance to platonic male friendship.
It's like they made a big list of the things I hate about 97% of romantic comedies and carefully didn't do any of them.I hate to sound like a gushing Paul Rudd fanboy, but I have embarrassingly little critique to offer to I Love You, Man. It's a very slight movie with a featherweight narrative, there's nothing deep or remotely innovative about the experience and it won't inspire any knockoffs because there's nothing identifiably unique about it to knock off, but it hits all the right notes, never lags, and has a superb cast that to a man (and woman) know their way around a punchline.
When he finds the perfect guy friend, the relationship between Peter and his fiancée are tested.I Love You, Man stars Paul Rudd, Jason Siegel and Rashida Jones, with some side characters acted by J.K Simmons, Andy Samberg, John Favreau and Jaime Pressly.
So the cast is great, the storyline is great as far as comedies go, so the only thing left is the screenplay, and my God is it funny.Paul Rudd gives a brilliant performance as an awkward, innocent man and then when he comes out of his shell he's hilarious.
Thankfully director John Hamburg has two extremely gifted comics who not only know how time a gag perfectly but who can also embody characters who you can actually believe in at the same time; here Paul Rudd and Jason Segel share some great scenes together that are hilarious (many of which come as a result of Rudd's unbearably bumbling and awkward nature contrasted against Segel's straight-guy persona) but most of all, tangible; I Love You, Man is a very funny movie, but it also makes no sacrifice—at least until the final five minutes—to any of the characters' integrity or believability.As far as the romantic subplot of the movie goes which involves Rudd preparing to marry his fiancé played by Rashida Jones (The Office) whilst at the same time trying to sell off Lou Ferrigno's (The Hulk) condo—who, by the way, has some great scenes alongside both Rudd and Segel—being that much of the focus is drawn away from this element, it doesn't work as well as you might expect.
Paul Rudd, alum of several Judd Apatow movies such as Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin, stars as Peter Klaven who, mere weeks away from his wedding to Zooey (Rashida Jones of "The Office" fame), realizes that he has no male friends.
Though none of them got nearly as much screen time as the three main actors, they all had their moments and did a great job with their characters, which were quirky but believable.Like any good comedy, I Love You, Man had a script that had both laughs and heart.
This was a funny comedy about "desperate times call for desperate measures." Paul Rudd is a Realtor who gets engaged and then realizes he has no close male friends to serve as his best man.
While I do admit that I will watch just about anything starring either Jason Segel or Paul Rudd, and I'm sure that contributes to my love for this movie, that isn't the only reason.
Jason Segel and Paul Rudd make a great comedy duo, and I hope they make more movies together in the future.