Today’s mainstream media is overflowing with bromances. Take, for instance, Superbad’s glorification of male bonding and Brody Jenner’s eponymous reality show Bromance. Director Jon Hamburg’s testosterone-infused take on the chick flick, I Love You, Man, is just the latest ode to platonic yet passionate male relationships.
The film follows Peter (Rudd), a girlfriend guy who’s never had a male friend, as he tries desperately to find a best man for his upcoming wedding. With the not-very-helpful help of his flirt-savvy gay brother (Andy Samberg), Peter stumbles to keep up with drinking games on boys’ night and goes on a man-date that turns out to be an actual date. It’s impossible not to grimace at each of Peter’s awkward missteps. The real comedy, however, doesn’t begin until Rudd and Segel appear on-screen together. The film becomes a montage of male bonding and dirty humor as Sydney (Segel) helps Peter discover his goofball, air-bass-jamming self.
Rudd and Segel both shine during the paralyzingly awkward moments of their early friendship, but ultimately I Love You, Man devolves into a series of tired buddy-movie cliches. The film relies heavily on one-liners, dumb nicknames and distracting lowbrow humor (think projectile vomit). Several sequences are gems, however, that make the movie. Jon Favreau and Jaime Pressly are perfect as a disgruntled couple, and Sydney’s fist-fight with Lou Ferrigno (a.k.a, The Hulk) is hilarious in its absurdity. In the end, I Love You, Man is far from original, but it’s comforting in its predictability: true love, it seems, really can exist. Even if it’s between bros.
There will be a screening of I Love You, Man tonight at 7:30, at the Bridge. It opens Friday.
