Release Date:
March 20, 2009
MPAA Rating:
R
Running Time:
105 min.
Suggested Smoking Method:
Bong with a buddy

I Love You Man
Reviewed by Tsunami

Romantic comedies always follow the same formula for the most part. That being some cheesy relationship between a man and a woman (I can’t recall a romantic comedy for the gays, they are usually very serious and end in death…dyikes!), that while they may have their differences which accounts for most of the comedy, they find true love in the end. “I Love You” man takes a different approach. The relationship of the lead character Peter and his fiancé` Zooey is fine. She’s a cool and hot, Peter is just a really nice guy who happens to connect better with the ladies.

Ok, it turns out he doesn’t really have any guy friends at all. After overhearing his fiancé’s friends talk about how it’s weird he doesn’t have like a “best friend” and they don’t know who his best man will be, he decides “make some fucking friends.” Things get moving from here in pretty hilarious fashion. Peter goes on some ridiculous "man dates," without any luck until he encounters Sydney (Jason Segal) at one of his open houses. I hated on Segal in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” but I sort of liked him here. The whole time I just wished it was Owen Wilson playing his character, but I admit to having a huge boner for Owen Wilson so I digress. Sydney is a pretty badass fellow; you probably have a friend like him in your group… a bit of a freeloader, always talking about big ideas, but pretty much just ridiculous in all aspects. A great friend to have for pure entertainment purposes though, you can’t expect much more than that. He certainly provides some entertaining moments, especially with his frank talk about his in J.Oing habits.

The real comedy of this film lies in the supporting roles. There were some really hilarious characters, the first being Andy Samberg playing Peters gay, but straight man seducing little brother. Their father is also hilarious mainly for the fact the he is so friggin cool, he’s totally “down with the gays.” Jon Favreau plays this absolutely crazy asshole guy who is married to Zooey friend played by Jaime Pressly. Favreau as an asshole is funny, that’s just a given. Then there’s this lil guy who has tickets to the L.A. Galaxy (It’s Major League Soccer team apparently), Peter’s absurd rival real estate agent, Lou Ferrigno… just a truly fantastic supporting cast.

The movie was pretty consistent throughout, keeping the laughs coming and never getting to serious, but at the same time it was constantly advancing the story along. I thought the movie was well written and well acted. It had funny dialogue, physical humor and dumb humor(all good while high). While none of it was poop your pants funny(never good unless prepared), it was a smile to your face funny packaged with more of a unique story line than most romantic comedies.