More than eight years ago, Judd Apatow produced a controversial TV show titled “Freaks and Geeks” for the now defunct Fox Family Channel. Although the show only lasted for one season, it launched the career of a number of A-list movie stars and started the recent trend of Apatow alumni dominating a hefty sector of the comedy market. One such alumnus stars in “I Love You, Man,” a bromantic comedy that starts out witty and engaging but deteriorates into a predictable mess of rehashed one-liners and poor attempts at humor.
In this John Hamburg (“Along Came Polly”) film, Paul Rudd (“Role Models”) stars as Peter Klaven, a cool and collected realtor who has just proposed to his girlfriend (Rashida Jones, “The Office”). The only problem is Peter has always been more of a girlfriend guy and, as a result, has let all his guy friends fall by the wayside, leaving him without a candidate for best man. As the wedding draws near, Peter has a chance encounter with Sydney Fife (Jason Segel, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”), a brutally honest free spirit who just might be the perfect man for Peter.
Having already starred together in “Knocked Up” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” the comedic chemistry between Rudd and Segel is electric and not once does it feel forced or unnatural. However, the two are often constricted within the limits of screenwriters Hamburg and Larry Levin’s (“Dr. Dolittle 2”) mediocre screenplay. The pair opens up with memorable one-liners and hilarious plot developments, but as the film progresses, they continue to rely on the same jokes and the film slows down to a humorless standstill.
That is not to say that Rudd and Segel are not making the best out of what they are given. Rudd shines with his trademark deadpan sarcasm and wiseass cracks and Segel’s lovable wild boy antics are always good for a laugh.
In the end, the film’s comedic problem comes down to the fact Rudd and Segel are at their best when they are improvising scenes — like jam sessions to the music of Rush and a drunken fish taco dinner — and not when they are reading off of the script.
Hamburg and Levin also fail to create a truly original screenplay. While some of the more specific plot threads may be unique, the overall story follows most of the general concepts found in any other romantic comedy. The only difference is this is a man-meets-man love story instead of the typical man-meets-woman story. The consequence is a film that only becomes more and more predictable as it progresses, resulting in a corny, humdrum ending.
Another critical aspect — this film could have used more outright raunchiness. If done in a tasteful and amusing manner, raunchy humor can significantly help a film. While the movie does utilize sexual innuendoes effectively, the inclusion of a comical sex scene or even just a little nudity every now and then would have meshed well with the film’s abundance of awkward sexual scenes. Yet the screenwriters chose to stick with verbal and not physical comedy, a decision that ultimately had a negative effect on this film.
Although one cannot blame Hamburg for putting the weight of the film on Rudd and Segel’s talented shoulders, it would have been wise for him to distribute some of that load to other members of this film’s widely-gifted cast. Andy Samberg of “Saturday Night Live” fame could have been brilliant as Peter’s gay brother but is instead terribly underutilized and given nowhere near enough material to create a standout character. The creators also fail to include any compelling female roles, merely using the actresses in the film as pawns to the male characters and effectively wasting the excess of female talent they had available.
The film does include one strong supporting performance from the always funny yet often unheralded Jon Favreau (“Four Christmases”). As a rude, chauvinist husband, Favreau gives the movie some of its best lines and successfully makes a pointless role essential to the film’s comedy.
All in all, “I Love You, Man” does feature some quality bromance and laughs between Rudd and Segel — but that is about it. The predictable story and lackluster second half overpower the pair’s comedic muscle in the end, making this film at best a RedBox rental a few months from now.
2 out of 5 stars.
