SXSW Exclusive
By now most of these actors have worked with each other, most notably on various Judd Apatow flicks. This year, the, what I like to affectionately call “Apatow Gang” has created another raunchy but heart-felt flick,
I Love You, Man.
I Love You, Man was one of the Premiere films at the SXSW Film and Music Festival in Austin, TX, and most of the cast and director were present to talk about themselves and the movie.
The Review
It feels like we know what to expect when we watch Paul Rudd and Jason Segal. But this time John Hamburg, a friend of Apatow’s, wrote and directed. Not that it made the movie stand out from Apatow’s films.
I Love You, Man is basically a coming-of-age flick, only, instead of an awkward, pimply-faced teenage boy, we get a handsome, charismatic, thirty-something man. Rudd finally plays a lead as Peter Klavin, the guy all women adore but men can’t relate to. And this doesn’t seem to be a problem until he asks his girlfriend Zooey (Rashida Jones) to marry him. This is cool, but Peter Klavin has a problem—he doesn’t have any close guy friends to give him away.
So Peter desperately goes on man dates to find a BFF. With advice from his parents, female friends, and gay brother Robbie (Andy Samberg), most of the contenders are stinkers. That is until he meets the flamboyant, but straight, Sydney Fife (Jason Segal).
I’m not going to lie. I Love You, Man has plenty of hilarious moments. Most of them a direct result of Peter’s “Klavinisms”. The “Klavinisms” are Peter’s attempts to be cool like the other bros, but humiliates himself instead. Rudd is charming and convincing as a straight guy who likes chick flicks and romance. Yeah, there are guys like this roaming Planet Earth. Once in a while you hear about them. They love their girlfriends or wives and prefer a nice merlot, not beer or football.
Sydney is the perfect match for Peter because they seem to be opposite but as Peter begins to “find himself” they enjoy hanging out together. Other characters in this film include Zooey’s trash-talking best friend Denise (Jaime Pressly) and Denise’s a-hole husband Barry (Jon Favreau).
The only downer was that there are a lot of predictable moments. But the lines are funny and the actors are really good. So this is one to watch if you don’t mind funny raunchy, not funny intellectual.
