I Love You, Man

Riding a wave of effortless charm courtesy of lead actor Paul Rudd (all sheepish grins and clumsy mutterings in his role), the contrived comedy I Love You, Man just about clears the necessary hurdles to become a likeable movie. But while Rudd's charm keeps the movie relatively buoyant from its basic beginning to its predictable finish, the weight of the underachieving script by Larry Levin and John Hamburg (who doubles as director) ultimately drags the movie down too deep for Rudd to rescue it.

This is another haphazard comedy that relies entirely on the promise of its silly concept. Paul Rudd plays Peter, a real estate agent on the verge of marrying his girlfriend Zooey (Rashida Jones) when he panics at the prospect of getting married without a best man. As it turns out, Peter has gone through his entire life without a male companion worthy of standing by his side at the altar.

And so a comedy concept is born: Peter must go on a series of "man-dates" to find the perfect best man before he marries Zooey. After a few failed attempts, Peter eventually stumbles upon (and instantly befriends) a slovenly man named Sidney (Jason Segal), in whom he finds a kindred spirit worthy of unlocking his imprisoned masculinity. Before long, the newfound buddies are spending all of their time together, walking Sidney's dog at the beach and doing their own two-man band version of Rush.

The idea is goofy enough to sustain a few funny jokes, but the problem with I Love You, Man is that the script uses the concept as a comedic crutch. Unlike other recent concept comedies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, the script is afraid to venture beyond the confines of the concept. Peter is essentially a woman in a man's body and Sidney is an explosion of testosterone boiled down to its most barbaric base. Why do Peter and Sidney have to represent such extreme polarity on the scale of masculinity to the point that they become little more than caricatures? Probably because the script isn't smart enough to give either of these characters any depth or dimension.

Without any narrative backbone to keep the story propped up, the plot flips and flops from scene to scene without a care in the world. There is so little substance at work here that Hamburg keeps mounting silly montage sequences in order to let the jokes spill off the edges of the frame. Early on, it becomes clear that the script is just killing time before injecting itself with the usual romantic comedy formula that occupies the movie's final half hour.

But despite the lame attempts by Levin and Hamburg to keep the movie stuck in neutral, Rudd and Segal are able to lend the movie some much-needed comedic energy. The script holds them back, but they are clearing enjoying themselves in front of the camera and their excitement becomes sweetly infectious. The movie's funny moments and overall embraceable tone must be attributed to them, since they are the ones doing all of the heavy lifting (as light as it may look).

In another baffling decision made by Levin and Hamburg, the script ignores the comedic possibilities of the supporting cast, leaving talented actors Jane Curtin and J.K. Simmons with little to do. Rashida Jones is sweet and lovable as bride-to-be Zooey, but her character so completely borders on pristine perfection that a winning smile is all that is needed to make the role convincing. On a positive note, former Incredible Hulk TV star and bodybuilding sensation Lou Ferrigno makes a humorous cameo appearance that briefly livens up the movie.

With so many raunchy comedies all mining the same men-will-be-boys material flooding the marketplace over the last few years (some great, like Knocked Up, and some terrible, like Blades of Glory), I Love You, Man fails to make much of an impression. It has its funny moments (one joke about Sidney mistaking a comment about hybrid cars for a statement of support for hybrid animals is particularly hilarious) and it has its very unfunny moments (a recurring joke about Leprechaun impersonations is incredibly lame). In the end, it's just another mediocre comedy with little to love or hate. For a movie of such forgettable messiness, all I can say is that I don't love you, man, but I guess I can tolerate you.