Movie time! I Love You, Man

Friday night. I’m a single man who isn’t out on the prowl for young ladies. I’m looking for a good time though. So what do I do? I flip through the long list of movies that I still haven’t watched. I just finished a How I Met Your Mother binge, and was still in the mood for light heart­edness. Passing on Napoleon Dynamite, I settled on: I Love You, Man.

Going in, I didn’t know what to expect.  I tried to place the lead actor, finally remem­bering Paul Rudd from 40 Year Old Virgin.  I was pleas­antly surprised to see Jason Segel on the screen, whom I recog­nized as Marshall from the afore­men­tioned TV comedy series How I Met Your Mother.

So on to the story.  Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) by most measures would be appear to be a successful young man, a very eligible bachelor.  His career is well estab­lished, he seems to be quite accom­plished.  He doesn’t dress like an idiot, and he is a sweet and consid­erate man who makes root beer floats for all of his fiancés friends.  He’s a keeper.

Of course, all isn’t well.  We find out that Peter doesn’t really have all that many friends.  He also relates better to women.  We are sent along on Peter’s journey to finding his best man, and oh what a funny ride it is.

Peter is put in these hilarious situ­a­tions that push the envelope of hetero­sex­u­ality in male same-sex rela­tion­ships.  In some ways similar to Kevin Smith’s Clerks, ILYM examines male bonding without being shy about the blurring of the lines between platonic and romantic rela­tion­ships.  With great dialogue that includes a frank and open discussion of mastur­bation, the comical rela­tionship between Peter and Sydney that’s based on man love is set on display without being cheesy.  In fact, all of the hilarity that comes from the situ­a­tions that Peter shares with Sydney throughout their journey are genuine, unlike the contrived and elementary set pieces in other low-brow comedies like Role Models.

Between Peter’s comedic inep­titude of an awkward straight man (in the comedic sense, not a reference to his sexual orien­tation) breaking out of his shell and Sydney’s off-beat comfort with zaniness, a very natural humor emerges.  The element of funny develops organ­i­cally, and the dialogue and scenes draw the laughter out of you natu­rally.  It’s not the type of movie that hits you over the head with slap­stick and not-so-subtle over­tones of acci­dental homo­sex­u­ality.  Rather than exploiting that easily taken route, the movie glides easily across that tightrope.  Instead of a story that was written to be funny, it feels more like a story that just happens to be funny.  It’s the difference between a crude class clown and a good stand-up comedian with humorous obser­va­tions.  Of course, the story in itself could have been deeper.  The rela­tionship between Peter and Sydney seemed to move a  little fast, but given that this is a main­stream comedy film, I think it’s more than forgiveable.

Peter Klaven and Sydney Fife are both well developed and well written char­acters.  I Love You, Man takes the delicate issue of male sexu­ality in the context of a close rela­tionship and taste­fully handles it with finesse.  Combine the great humor and grounded perfor­mances from Paul Rudd and Jason Segel (as well as the supporting cast) and you’ve got yourself a great Friday night, even if it leaves you thinking that you need your own Sydney.  This movie is defi­nitely staying in my library.