How do you make a Judd Apatow-type movie without actually being Judd Apatow? This is obviously the question which director John Hamburg(Undeclared, Along Came Polly) and his co-writer Larry Levin(Seinfeld, Dr. Dolittle) grappled with when constructing the story for their new film I Love You, Man.
If it were possible to distill the storytelling technique of Judd Apatow(The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) into a recipe, the ingredients would be sure to include A)Place into R-rated package. B)Drop in one or more stars from previous Apatow productions to induce audience familiarity. C)Mix with copious amounts of references to farting, squirting, awkward same-sex encounters. D)Stir until pot boils, or ingredients reach close approximation of an Apatow presentation.
The problem with using someone else's recipe--especially if they're as skilled a "chef" as Apatow, is that you'll never match their masterful ways in the cinematic kitchen. What Apatow is really good at is mixing his ingredients together in a way that speaks to his audience, rather than just talking at them. I Love You, Man, for all its good intentions, is like being the grand prize winner of Hell's Kitchen; you can be good, real good...but you'll never be Chef Gordon Ramsay.
This is not to say that there's anything truly wrong with
I Love You, Man...far from it. The problem is that while imitation is often the sincerest form of flattery, it's also blatantly obvious when a filmmaker such as Hamburg is trying to be someone else.
The story gets things going right away by introducing us to Peter Klaven(Paul Rudd) and his fiancee Zooey(Rashida Jones), a young couple very much in love. He's a real estate agent currently in the midst of trying to sell the house of his biggest client, Lou Ferrigno(playing himself), famous star of tv's The Incredible Hulk. Peter hopes to use his commission from the sale to buy private land to develop and, to Zooey's surprise, help pay for the wedding reception, as he proposes to her on the spot. She accepts, and planning for the big day goes along smoothly, until the issue comes up of who Peter's best man will be. It seems Peter spent more time in his youthful years skirt-chasing instead of building up male bonds, and so he doesn't have any truly close best buds to ask to stand with him on his wedding day. Overhearing an unintentionally hurtful conversation between Zooey's friends, Peter decides to embark on a series of "man-dates" in order to secure a new best friend.
This leads to several semi-humorous consequences, such as Peter's mom Joyce(Jane Curtin) inadvertently setting her son up with a gay man(Thomas Lennon) who thinks Peter could be the next great thing in his life. Things look bleak for Peter's prospects, until at one open house he meets Sydney(Jason Segel), a carefree, flat-out dude, who's able to call everything from who might actually be interested in Ferrigno's place to how a guy visiting the house is going to choose the right time to let one rip when his girlfriend's out of range. Taken with Sydney's let-it-hang-loose attitude, the normally buttoned-up Peter decides to give him a call to hang out. When the two guys do get together, Sydney basically has Peter at "hello".
Overall, I Love You, Man is a mildly engrossing yet still thoroughly enjoyable film. The problems come in with the fact that for the entire nearly two hour run time, we're never given a clue as to what Zooey does with her time, other than plan her wedding and dish with her girlfriends. Did she have a career, or even a life, before Peter came along? There's a throwaway line referencing a shop where Peter and she met, but patently little character development for Zooey. This is a shame, because while Rashida Jones'(The Office, Robot Chicken) performance isn't extraordinary, it still helps sell the believability of the couple. Yet one gets the intimation that Jones' character could simply be wall-dressing for the film, to make Peter and Sydney's friendship seem less "gay". This would be surprising, as the film does a good job of not stereotyping homosexuals, as Peter's brother Robbie(Andy Samberg) is gay, yet in many ways is more masculine than Peter on any day of the week.
The movie's pacing is also off somewhat, but going back to the recipe comparison, it was definitely smart casting on Hamburg's part to retain Segel(How I Met Your Mother, Knocked Up) as Sydney. Truthfully, the movie drags slightly until Segel's character enters the picture. While not in possession of classic leading man looks, there's just some-thing so inherently likeable about Segel that his mere presence brightens up the picture, and his delivery punches up writer Levin's decent-but-not-enthralling dialogue. Aside from Segel and Rudd's relationship--which admittedly is what the film is all about--the rest of the cast(apart from Samberg) is primarily underutilized. Jane Curtin(the original Saturday Night Live, back when it was just called Saturday Night) does a credible job bringing back some warmth and nostalgia points from her years of appearances on film. J.K. Simmons(The Closer, Burn After Reading) is obviously the new choice for loveable dad of the millennium, since he plays the exact same character he did in Juno. And it should be considered a crime carrying a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison to cast anyone as talented as Jaime Pressly(My Name Is Earl, Horton Hears A Who!) in a supporting role which does little more than reduce her character to the levels she once had to endure shooting such dreck as Poison Ivy: The New Seduction.
There seem to be a lot of negatives piling up, but I don't want that to deter you. I'm still recommending this movie because, in spite of the aforementioned cons and the fact there aren't really as many laugh-out-loud moments in the film as there are in the trailers, the movie is made enjoyable due to the interaction between Rudd's Peter and Segel's Sydney. Their burgeoning friendship is the glue that holds everything together, as is the case many times in real life. The interaction between the entire cast, in fact--in spite of the many underutilized aspects or dead zones in Zooey's character development--feels realistic, believable. There are also truthful gems to be found in some of Sydney's guy lessons to Peter, such as the line about the word "trying" being an excuse to allow for failure. And until the last third of the movie, the majority of the film is not predictable at all. If you do go, be sure to sit through the end credits, as the cast is finally allowed to let loose in ways which Hamburg should have found for them to be able to do throughout the film.
Yes, I Love You, Man isn't the most perfect of comedies to be found out there(since there is about 30% imitation Apatow mixed with the ingredients), but it's a decent enough film to take your date to...
...or your favorite man-crush, anyways.
Official Archives of LanceReviews...
I REALLY SORT OF LIKE YOU, MAN
New Apatow-wannabe doesn't quite fit the mold, but it still has a charm all its own...
Odd couple: Rudd(left) and Segel make for a socially awkward-yet-cute couple.
Zooey(Jones, left) and Peter(Rudd) are an engaged couple very much in love...but his lack of male friends makes for awkward dinner conversation among friends and family.
At the house of Zooey's friend's husband(Iron Man director Jon Favreau, right), Peter tries too hard to fit in, with embarrassing consequences.
At an open house, Peter meets Sydney(Segel, foreground). His laid-back attitude proves an instant attraction for the staid Pete.
Sydney's encounter with the incredible Lou Ferrigno(seated, left) is one of the highlights of the picture.
