johnlink ranks I LOVE YOU, MAN (2009)
Comedies have been mostly lacking in these pages. I’ve watched my share over the years, to be sure, but I find they are mostly misses. Of course, I watch terrible horror movies all the time, so it’s not like I’m some sort of elitist. Working at the theater, I often catch scenes from comedies and there are a few I have meant to see. I LOVE YOU, MAN is one of those.
I watched I LOVE YOU, MAN (2009) on 1.22.11. It was my first viewing of the film. TRAILER HERE
I like what I’ve seen of Paul Rudd, though it seems like he is in just about every comedy that has come out over the last three years. In this he plays a lovable guy who has just gotten engaged and realizes he doesn’t have any guy friends at all. The comedy here is in the courtship of a best friend (in place of the usual movie meme, which would be a girlfriend) played by sitcom actor Jason Segel.
There are some great supporting characters, specifically Jane Curtain and J. Jonah Jameson as Paul Rudd’s parents. Everyone in this has their moment, and the comedy is solid, if never great. There is plenty of awkwardness to go around, and much of the comedy revolves around sex (so it’s not precisely highbrow), but there are certainly laughs. Especially in the golfing sequence.
This made me miss Los Angeles a bit too, with the beautiful shots of Venice Beach and the Grove and such. It’s a nice movie to look at, though it assumes everyone makes plenty of money and has all the nicest things. I wish I lived in the world of a comedy. Life’s pretty easy there.
I also really like Rashida Jones, she’s best known from her role on The Office. She plays the fiancee here and does a nice job playing the thankless ‘straight-man’ to Rudd and Segel’s zaniness. She gets little love from the scriptwriters, but I like her a lot, and want to watch more from her.
The conflicts here are pretty easily resolved. It’s formulaic, especially since it is trying to break new ground, so to speak, with the bromance situation. I don’t expect every comedy to be DR. STRANGELOVE, but the scores below reflect the fun, yet shallow, sort of movie this is. I think that’s why I watch more horror than comedy even if both are equally bad. With horror, it usually wears its shallowness on its sleeve. Comedies often pretend to have a heart after 80 minutes of meanness. But, then, I love Ricky Gervais and he’s one of the ‘mean’ comics. So, really, at the end of the day, I guess that the answer is ‘to each their own’. This kind of comedy is funny, it is a nice distraction, but I don’t see where I’d want to watch it again. Yet, if someone to ask me if I liked it, I’d say ‘sure, it’s good enough.’
And, perhaps, that’s why I don’t watch too many comedies. So often, it’s all the same. But hey, if you like comedy, this is a fun one.
SCORES
FILM: 3; MOVIE: 7; ACTING: 6; WRITING: 4
3+7+6+4+0=20
FINAL SCORE: 5
johnlinkmovies 