The movie is ostensibly about a guy who has no best friend. His dad is best friends with his brother (and vice versa), and he has no immediate leads for a best man at his wedding. The premise is really just an excuse to get Paul Rudd and Jason Segel knocking banter back and forth. Then they pepper the film with sharp comedians in bit parts and it's a satisfying cheeseburger.
What makes I Love You, Man work isn't the most daringly-original, envelope-pushing premise in history (which it lacks), but the improv. It also doesn't pretend to be more than what it is, and I respect that.
The headliners all keep up their end. Rudd and Segal act like they've done this for years. Rashida Jones plays the straight woman to the rest of the cast, including Jon Favreau and Jaime Pressly as the break-up/make-up (in the same breath) couple. Aziz Ansari, Joe Lo Truglio, Thomas Lennon, Jay Chandrasekhar, and Lou Ferrigno all take a couple lines here and there and really make the movie work, disposable premise and all. Put enough really solid performers in a film like this, and you have a reliable fast food comedy experience.
(from left) Festival Director Janet Pierson, I Love You, Man director John Hamburg, producer Donald De Line, Paul Rudd, Jason Segal, Rashida Jones, Jon Favreau taking a twitter pic, and the best reason to watch My Name is Earl, Jaime Pressly.
Like I did, a lot of people will look at promos for I Love You, Man determined to be a neg-head on it. "Oh great, one of these," many will say. I came out thinking it's a perfect "watch anytime" kind of thing. When I'm done with the latest depressing "end of the world"-tinged doc and want to watch something that grabs me by the gut and makes me chuckle, this is it.
Watching Moon last night at the Paramount gave me a good subcategory for the movie: Aspirational Lifestyle Comedy. At one point Sam Rockwell is watching an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and that's how that show was filed in the computer
None of the main characters are hurting for cash, and the biggest problems in their world are footnotes compared to the volumes of issues most people face. People want to shut out the layoffs and failing companies and just laugh. I'm going to call this one the box office champ next weekend and then some, with word of mouth doing a reverse Watchmen and pushing packed houses on Saturday and Sunday next week. It'll do good mid-week attendance too.
No one is going to walk in to the movie wondering how it ends. It drags a bit in the third act, but it invests enough into getting you to stick with it that I forgave the perfunctory ending. I wouldn't label the movie disposable, but as i said before...fast food, easy to watch..which isn't a bad thing here. Sometimes a burger is a burger, but this one is cooked to order, better quality cheese and condiments.
During the Q&A, Segal commented on the Muppet script he was writing a few months back, saying he's "finished writing. The studio has it now. It's an old-school, late 70's/early 80's Muppet movie They said I had to put famous people in it." Bring it on.