As sweet as it is tart, the bromantic comedy “I Love You, Man” begins with the perfect chick-flick ending.
A dreamy guy with searching eyes surprises his lovely girlfriend with a proposal and a picture-perfect plan for their shared future.
tagboy meets best man
Paul Rudd, whose blue-gray eyes really do seem to probe, is real estate agent Peter Klaven. Pretty Rashida Jones is thoughtful girlfriend Zooey.
Before her ring has warmed to body temperature, she’s dialed her best girlfriends (Jaime Pressly and Sarah Burns) to tell them the news.
Up until this point, Peter has been blissfully unaware that he doesn’t have any close male friends. It’s a deficit others point out, not least because it’s bound to make the wedding-party balance awkward.
And so his search for a bro-mate who can be his best man begins. “SWM seeks same for a meaningful friendship” is the hook to writer-director John Hamburg’s oft-hilarious, sociologically aware comedy.
The 38-year-old writer-director has a particularly attuned ear for the way popular culture resonates in our daily lives. He also has a gift for coupledom chatter.
“I Love You, Man” is the kind of story in which everyone knows more about the protagonist than he seems to know about himself. On that long list: his fiancee’s gal pals, his parents, his co-workers, his older gay brother who tries to help him with man-date hook-ups.
Hamburg is good at keeping the running jokes on track. There are plenty, beginning with the setup of Peter trying to sell Lou Ferrigno’s home. It’s at the Incredible Hulk’s swank digs that Peter meets Syd.
We spot the problem from across the room. So the question arises, Will Peter’s rose-colored glasses get knocked off? Long before the movie answers that, Peter will go all tongue-tied and goofy.
Jason Segel appeals and repels as Sydney Fife. He’s vaguely slovenly, full of theories about menfolk filched from Robert Bly and retooled to support his slacker soul.
Still, compared with other candidates for new best friend, he’s a peach, a bit fuzzy and overripe.
There’s more than a bit of Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski to Syd. He, too, lives in Venice Beach. His band of choice isn’t Creedence but Rush.
Or perhaps Syd is the Cat in the Hat. But instead of upending Peter’s household with an unexpected visit, he does his dismantling in a pack-rat hovel he calls “the man cave.”
To his credit, Sydney is not an altogether bad listener.
When the cone of silence descends, Peter says things he’s never admitted before and endangers a relationship he was certain he wanted.
The trick with manning-up a guy like Peter in a contemporary comedy is to not dumb down the women characters or come off as homophobic.
Andy Shamberg plays the role of Peter’s gay brother brilliantly straight. Robbie knows himself. He’s not the family’s oddster. And J.K. Simmons is amusingly brusque as Peter’s dad. (Jane Curtin is Mom.) It’s Simmons’ line, late in the movie, that draws tears.
At the heart of this comedy lies a question about the place of friendship in the marital order of things. If mates become each other’s dear friends, where does everyone else stand?
This conundrum is made wittily, R-ratedly clear early on: Zooey’s girl posse could use a few more firewalls to their sharing.
But just in case we’re confused, Syd’s engagement toast will do the job.
“I Love You, Man”
R. for foul language, including crude and sexual references. 1 hour, 45 minutes. Directed by John Hamburg; written by Hamburg and Larry Levin; photography by Lawrence Sher; starring Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones, Andy Shamberg, J.K. Simmons, Jane Curtin, Jon Favreau, Jaime Pressly. Opens today at area theaters.
