Outstanding Cast and Screenplay Made Me Fall in Love with 'I Love You, Man'

It’s been a while since we’ve had a movie from John Hamburg. His last creation was the hit Along Came Polly, which, thanks to Ben Stiller, pretty much launched his career as a writer/director/producer. So 5 years after the release of Polly, we have I Love You, Man, a movie about a guy who’s getting married and goes on a series of “man-dates” to find a best man for his wedding. Before I saw this, I researched a lot about it. First I noticed it was co-written/directed/produced by John Hamburg, as I mentioned earlier in the review. This shocked me a bit, since similar Forgetting Sarah Marshall was directed by Nicholas Stoller. It also starred Jason Segel, so I was expecting him to write the screenplay. But instead, Hamburg and Larry Levin (who also co-wrote Dr. Dolittle and wrote Dr. Dolittle 2) took on the challenge together. Disappointing since I loved Sarah Marshall so much.
But I’m not counting out Hamburg just yet. He did nail the feel that he and Levin intended the movie to have, that “bromantic” parody which had me cracking up at scenes that I wasn’t even supposed to be laughing at. The jokes could’ve been hit-and-miss, but Hamburg made sure that they were spaced out and spoke awesomely.
Paul Rudd plays realtor Peter, a friendless but lovable geek who needs to find a best man for his wedding with Zooey (played by a gorgeous and side-splitting Rashida Jones). At an open house for Lou Ferrigno (who’s a surprising gem), he stumbles upon Sydney (Jason Segel), a careless, go-with-the-flow kind of guy who refuses to grow up. The two hit it off and soon Sydney’s RSVP’d for Peter’s wedding.
Rudd and Segel have both had their fair share of hits, both sleeper and those that have topped the charts. Segel’s had Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, both of which Rudd starred in, and let’s also not forget his recurring role as Marshall on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Rudd has had classics thanks to Judd Apatow like The 40-Year Old Virgin and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story as well as loners like Role Models and The Ten. Together, the duo is unstoppable. Rudd’s quiet awkwardness and Segel’s loudmouth obnoxiousness blend together to make a pitch-perfect comedy of epic proportions.
I Love You, Man is a feel-good, happy movie that desperately doesn’t want to be. Whenever there’s a moment where that statement can be expressed, the “F” word is dropped and kills the mood entirely. There’s not as much cursing as in Observe and Report, and it’s not quite as vulgar as Forgetting Sarah Marshall (although there was a pretty gross sight gag) were, yet Love You, Man still holds the ‘R’ rating. It had to be, though, in the tradition of comedies such as this one. With only a ‘PG-13’ rating, John Hamburg might not have achieved his goal.
We’ll remember I Love You, Man as one of the best comedies of our time. It’s full of zingy one-liners like “I will see you there, or I will see you at another time!” “…Okay, that was confusing, will you be there or not?”. Other roles besides those of Rudd, Segel and Jones are filled brilliantly by Jamie Pressly, Jon Favreau and Andy Samberg. And there’s this one hilarious part with Thomas Lennon where…you know what? Go see it for yourself. I love this movie, man.

4/5 popcorn buckets.