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Released by: Paramount Studios
Released on: August 11, 2009
Director: John Hamburg
Cast: Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones, Sarah Burns, Jaime Pressly, Jon Favreau, Jane Curtin, J.K. Simmons, Andy Samberg
Year: 2009
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The Movie:
While the novelty of the post Freaks And Geeks/Apatow universe and its myriad spin-offs and knock-offs may be growing thin, John Hamburg's I Love You, Man proves there's still plenty of gold to be mined with this type of humor if handled properly.
The film follows a nice guy named Peter (Paul Rudd), a real estate agent who has recently gotten engaged to his pretty fiancé, Zooey (Rashida Jones). Life is good for the pair until Peter overhears one of Zooeys' girlfriends cautioning her about the fact that Peter doesn't really have any close male friends. Overhearing the conversation and realizing it is all true, he sets out on a few different 'man dates' to try and socialize with the dudes a bit more. These all fail miserably - one date ends with a gay man tongue kissing him, another with Peter projectile vomiting all over the husband of Zooey's closest girlfriend -until one day, at an open house he's hosting at Lou Ferrigno's place, Peter meets Sydney Fife (Jason Segal).
The pair hit it off and start hanging out and soon enough, they're inseparable - jamming out their favorite RUSH songs in Sydney's bachelor pad and even confiding in one another. This confidentiality is the start of a problem, however, when Sydney attends the couple's engagement party and tells Zooey in front of all of their friends and family that she should give Peter more blowjobs. As his relationship with Sydney gets stronger, it also becomes more difficult. Zooey starts to wonder why they're hanging out as much as they are and Sydney makes the mistake of asking Peter 'why' he's marrying her, a question he can't immediately answer and which sets of a domino effect…
Crass enough to be funny and just a tiny bit sweet enough to make you smile, I Love You, Man is pretty good stuff. The story is predictable to a fault and you know where it's all going very early on but Rudd and Segal just have such a great chemistry that you can't help but want to see them succeed. While in terms of the central story core the film is about Peter's relationship and uncertainties about his upcoming marriage and about finding and being true to himself, the real reason you'll want to watch it is to take in the scenes where he and Sydney goof off. Whether they're playing bad cover versions of RUSH songs, fighting Lou Ferrigno or golfing with Zooey and her friend, these two are just really funny together.
With a supporting cast that includes the likes of J.K. Simmons, Jane Curtin, Andy Samberg , Jamie Pressley and Jon Favreau the film turns out to be well acted and pretty enjoyable despite the story's predictability. It works on the same level as Forgetting Sarah Marshall in that it's essentially a chick flick for dudes, but don't let that dismay you, this is some seriously funny stuff that John Hamburg has crafted. Here's hoping I Love You, Man will hopefully lead to more starring roles for Segal and Rudd.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Universal presents I Love You, Man in a nice 1080p 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen presentation that for the most part looks very nice, particularly in the scenes that take place outside along the beach and boardwalk. Colors are nice and bold and the blues of the sky really look quite spectacular. Skin tones look lifelike and natural and there's plenty of detail throughout the presentation. A little bit of mild edge enhancement pops up in a couple of spots but it's far from overpowering. There aren't any problems with mpeg compression artifacts or print damage and really, the movie looks very nice here.
The primary track is a Dolby True HD 5.1 mix in English, though standard definition French and Spanish dubs are supplied in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The sound is quite good throughout the film, there's a lot more ambient and background noise coming at you from the rear channels, probably more than you'd expect, and the few musical numbers in the film pack some nice punch. Dialogue stays clean and clear throughout and there are no problems with hiss or distortion to complain about. Optional subtitles are supplied in English SDH, French and Spanish.
Director/co-writer John Hamburg joins stars Jason Segel and Paul Rudd for a commentary track that is absolutely worth listening to if you enjoyed the film. These three obviously had a blast working on the picture and it shows throughout this funny and interesting track that's got as much natural chemistry in it as the movie under discussion. The basically cover everything you'd expect a commentary to cover - locations, casting, writing, tweaking the film, changing ideas - but it does so with a great sense of humor that makes it a lot of fun to listen to.
The Making Of I Love You, Man is a seventeen minute featurette that features the three commentary participants as well as producers Donald De Line, Andrew Haas, Anders Bard, as well as actors Rashida Jones, Jon Favreau, Jaime Pressly, Andy Samberg, Rob Huebel, Tom Lennon, Lou Ferrigno, Sarah Burns, Jane Curtin and last but not least, J.K. Simmons. This isn't particularly deep or revelatory but like the commentary it's a good bit of fun. Everyone here has got nothing but good things to say about working with one another on the project and it's interesting to learn how much effort goes into staging a projectile vomit sequence.
From there we moved to the excised material - here you'll find over twenty-two minutes of outtakes, twelve minutes of extended scenes and a trio of deleted scenes. All of this material is worth checking out as the same kind of humor that makes the feature work is here in abundance. The deleted scenes don't change much at all, neither do the extensions, but they are funny as are the outtakes.
Rounding out the extras is the film's red band trailer, an eleven minute gag reel, animated menus and chapter selection. All of the extra features on this release are presented in HD.
The Final Word:
John Hamburg's take on 'bromosexuality' and the necessity of male bonding makes for some pretty hilarious viewing and gives Segel and Rudd ample opportunity to strut their stuff. Paramount's Blu-ray delivers in terms of quality and extra content and this is, overall, a very solid and well put together package.
