I Love You, Man

Film, SXSW 2009 Add comments

Mar 142009

iloveman To give you an idea of the effort that went into making this movie, during the post-screening Q/A it was mentioned that Paul Rudd had a diva-esque demand before signing on- the vomit had to look real.

I Love You, Man follows the story of Los Angeles based real estate agent Peter Klaven (Rudd) who has had trouble making male friends all of his life.¬† Now he‚Äôs poised with the challenge of naming a best man for his impending wedding.¬† After several failed attempts at ‚Äúman dates,‚Äù he happens upon Sydney Fife (Jason Segal) during an open house.¬† From there, an epic relationship blooms and due to Sydney‚Äôs flippant ways, chaos ensues.

Most of that you could have predicted within the first 30 minutes, so I don‚Äôt consider it spoiler territory.¬† The fact is, the film behaves like a romantic comedy but in place of two lovers we have two dudes that begin to bond over the course of the film.¬† The beats throughout the film even behave just like a romantic comedy.¬† As it‚Äôs already been established that I‚Äôm a fag and love this sort of thing, you can be assured I gobbled it up.

The film presents itself with some really classic moments, such as the aforementioned vomit sequence.¬† I was also surprised to find out Jon Favreau was in the film (apparently filmed while Iron Man was opening) playing husband to Jamie Pressley.¬† I found the scenes involving his character, Barry, and Peter Klaven to be so awkwardly accurate to my interactions with other alpha males that I couldn‚Äôt help but recall my own misfires when trying to make conversation with these animals.

All in all, a really good flick.¬† For what it‚Äôs worth, the wife really liked it, too.¬† So even though it‚Äôs a film about dudes, I think there‚Äôs enough here for women to like.¬† Or maybe the formula for romantic comedy is specifically designed to excite females.¬† Maybe…¬† Maybe I‚Äôm a woman, trying to claw my way out of this manly visage one romantic comedy at a time…

Either way, check it out.