A 'Love' Between Bros

by Brett Parker

Most romantic comedies follow the formula of a single guy who pursues and courts an attractive woman, all with the help of a goofy and loyal best guy friend. I Love You, Man is a rom-com that shakes up this formula in an unexpected way: it follows a guy who sets out to obtain a male buddy with the encouragement of his lovely girlfriend. It’s a rather clever and refreshing take on the formula, one that allows us to consider the current state of masculinity in a seemingly female-dominating society.

As the film opens, we witness a real estate agent named Peter (Paul Rudd) proposing to his loving girlfriend, Zooey (Rashida Jones). She happily accepts and announces the big news to all her girlfriends via cell phone. Peter strangely has no one to call. It is revealed at a family dinner that Peter really has no guy friends of his own. Peter is a rather effeminate male who’s spent most of his life so focused on his girlfriends that he never really developed any guy’s guy friends, the type that pounds beers, checks out girls, and jams out to rock in a garage. A running joke in the film is that Peter’s gay brother, Robbie (Andy Samburg) is more masculine that he is. Peter’s Mom (Jane Curtain) and Dad (J.K. Simmons) note that he needs to find a best man for his own wedding.

Peter decides to solve this problem by going on a series of “man-dates” in hopes to find a candidate for a new best friend. These dates prove to be unsuccessful, for Peter finds the candidates too old, too goofy, or in one funny instance, too gay. Things look up for him though at an open house for Lou Ferrigno (yes, the Lou Ferrigno). It’s there he meets Sydney (Jason Segal), a breezy and funny dude with a laid-back demeanor. They exchange business cards and Peter decides to see if he’s buddy material. The two begin hanging out and pretty soon, they’re drinking beers and jamming out to Rush tunes in Sydney’s garage. Peter has finally found his best man, but as he gets more and more into doing manly activities, it begins to put a considerable strain on his relationship with Zooey.

I Love You, Man is a further entry into the self-conscious renaissance of the bromance movie, a type of buddy film in which the values of male bonding are favored above all, seriously overshadowing traditional views of male-female romance. The idea of buddy comedy stretches all the way back to Abbot & Costello and the Three Stooges, but I think the roots of bromance, specifically, began with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the story of two neurotic outlaws who, in the end, only had each other. Their friendship wasn’t basked in slapstick goofiness, but felt genuine and powerful. There have been considerable variations of bromance over the years, but as we revel in the Judd Apatow era of comedy, bromance is blossoming into a more colorful and conscious view than before. Friendship and loyalty towards your fellow man is being molded into the most attractive and favorable ideal in contemporary comedies, with romantic relationships feeling less fulfilling by comparison.

What’s most interesting about this film is the meditations it evokes about what it feels like to be a man’s man in today’s society. Women’s lib has developed strongly over the years to give women a more powerful hold on society than ever before. By contrast, being an all-out macho guy’s guy has become something of an obnoxious punch line in today’s world. Peter has spent so much of his normal life being sanitized in soft, feminine surroundings that being macho is almost a foreign concept to him, which it might also be for all of us. Think about it: we used to idolize Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty for partying and womanizing, now we condemn Colin Farrell for it. Go to a local bar and you’ll see an attractive female wearing a football jersey and cheering for the big game with an obnoxious testosterone act meant to parody the endangered acts of masculinity in question. Peter’s confusion towards traditional male behavior and his considerably awkward plots to obtain it are not at all far-fetched. Sydney also becomes a victim of this effeminate environment; he is threatened by isolation and loneliness for his masculine behavior while his buddies succumb to the demands of their wives. No room for strictly running with the wolves nowadays! While there’s nothing wrong with female independence, perhaps some fun aspects of male behavior is in fact missing today.

Aside from these psychological observations, I Love You, Man is a pretty funny comedy, although not as funny as Rudd’s last outing, Role Models, another film that suggested male bonding is the perfect solace from an indifferent world. I wish the film didn’t strictly follow a rom-com formula but let its characters breathe a bit more. The director, John Hamburg, had the same problem with his last film, Along Came Polly: he let a formulaic plot get in the way of genuinely fascinating comic characters. The film does have its big laughs though. This film has one of the most shocking and hilarious vomiting scenes I’ve ever seen. Sydney’s flip-out on a passerby objecting to his dog’s poop provides a hysterical line of dialogue. Plus there’s a goofy joy to be held in the scenes where Peter and Sydney practice in their very own Rush cover band (providing what is perhaps the funniest Back to the Future reference I’ve ever seen on film).

The film’s cast provides inventive comic riffs off the personas they’ve come to construct over their careers. Paul Rudd is usually the sarcastic wise-cracker who knocks on all dweebs in his path. This time he is the dweeb. He totally immerses himself in the nerdish meekness Peter demands without ever dulling his comic edge. Jason Segal fulfills the promise he made on Forgetting Sarah Marshall by turning in another charming and likeable comic performance that seems to come from a genuine place. And I loved the presence of Lou Ferrigno playing a comic version of himself. He is not an outsized caricature of himself, but has a relaxed presence brimming with humor and dignity. A scene in which he puts down Sydney with a sleeper-hold is worth the price of admission alone. Edward Norton was right: he is the man!

I really wish I Love You, Man reached further with its deeper ideals, but as it is, it’s very entertaining and likeable. If it pushed its human observations beyond just being a sitcom, it really could’ve touched greatness. But it’s always nice to see a sitcom with both brains and heart, not to mention a few big laughs. Long live the bromantic comedy!