I LOVE YOU, MAN

"...and it smells of Fart"

For all of his adult life Peter Klaven (Rudd) had been a girl-friend guy, spending all his time with his latest squeeze and forgetting about his male friends. When he proposes to Zooey (Jones) and she accepts, the pair talks about whom they are going to invite to the wedding. While she has a group of really close friends for her maid of honour and bridesmaids, Peter comes to the realisation that he doesn't have a best friend to be his best man. With only a few months to the wedding, Peter sets out to find himself a friend, with disastrous results until he meets Sydney (Segel).

Romantic comedies have been the domain of female cinemagoers for decades but now there is some for the male film fan to enjoy, the bromance!

Forever it has been fine for female friends to show how they fell about each. For a woman to say that she loved her girlfriends was fine and would have no lesbian connotations but if a man declared his love for a male friend, however platonic, it would be labelled as gay. This has all changed however and Hollywood are pushing the 'Bromance' as the next form of romantic comedy. With hits like 'Pineapple Express' and 'Superbad' in the modern era and film historians looking back at buddy movies like 'The Odd Couple', 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' and even the 'Lethal Weapon' films, to reclassify them as Bromances, it looks like the non-sexual, very close friendship between two straight men is here to stay but a least the modern movies are making this funny.

For Paul Rudd's character Peter Klaven, the idea of a bromance couldn't be further from his mind. Peter had always been a girlfriend man, letting his male friends slip away and throwing everything into his relationship. This all changes however when he proposes to his current girlfriend Zooey, played by the lovely Rashida Jones, and he realises that she has a large group of friends for her wedding party of bridesmaids and a maid of honour but he doesn't even have someone to ask to be his best man. So, with a little help from his gay brother Robbie, played by 'Hot Rod' star Andy Samberg, his mother, played by 'Third Rock from the Sun' star Jane Curtin, and the Internet, Peter tries to make friends via 'Man Dates', with very little success but then he meets Sydney. Jason Segel's character ('Forgetting Sarah Marshall', 'Knocked Up' and TV Show 'How I Met Your Mother') is like no one Peter has ever met before and he finally opens his eyes as to what having a best friend is all about.

The film really runs with this idea, successfully mixing the crude and outrageous style that has become very popular in Hollywood at the moment in movies like 'The 40 Year-Old Virgin', 'Knocked Up', 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall', 'Pineapple Express' and 'Superbad' with a story that will appeal to both a male and female audience. With this trend continuing with 'I Love You, Man', Hollywood is finally producing romantic comedies that appeal to both sexes and catching up with the Brits at been able to produce movies with romance and love in them that a boyfriend, partner or husband doesn't have to be dragged to, kicking and screaming.

'I Love You, Man' is a fun bromance that will appeal to every couple that watches it. With a mix of crude and slightly rude humour and a story that will appeal to both sexes, this is ideal date movie. Paul Rudd and Jason Segel show again that they are the Hollywood kings of this genre, an excellent supporting cast including great turns from Jaime Pressly, Sarah Burns, Jon Favreau and J.K. Simmons and director John Hamburg, the man behind 'Along Came Polly' and the writer of the 'Meet the Parents' series who gets the most from his cast and the storyline, thus making 'I Love You, Man' a comedy highlight.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Widescreen 1.85:1 Anamorphic with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, the transfer is good.

BONUS FEATURES

Commentary by director John Hamburg, Paul Rudd and Jason Segel
The man at the helm and his two stars provide a chatty and funny commentary for ‘I Love You, Man’. The trio talk passionately about the film, talking about real friendships, the Bromance genre and working with the cast. This is a fun track that fans of the film will enjoy listening to.

The Making of ‘I Love You, Man’ (16.47 mins)
Writer/director John Hamburg, producer Donald De Line, executive producer Andrew Haas and stars Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones, Sarah Burns, Jaime Pressly, Jon Favreau and Andy Samberg take you behind the scenes of the making of the film. With insights into the screenplay, the development of the story and how they created the vomit scene, this is a good featurette.

Extras (21.38 mins)
Entitled ‘Whole bunch of tongue’, ‘This is my nightmare’, ‘Barry & Dennis American Sweethearts’, ‘Tevin teaches Peter the art of selling houses’, ‘My dinner with Doug’, ‘Riding Marlena’, ‘Klavenisms’, ‘Tevin teaches Peter the art of sigh language’ and ‘City Slacka – Paul Rudd tries to get through the line’, these show the different adlibs of the lines in these funny scenes.

Extended Scenes (12.14 mins)
Entitled ‘Ladies night’, ‘Engagement Dinner’, ‘Tuxedo Shopping’, ‘The Groove’, ‘Rush Concert’ and ‘The Wedding’, watch the full versions of these scenes.

Deleted Scenes (3.12 mins)
Entitled ‘The Lost Man-Date – Rugby’, ‘Gay Bowling League Night’ and ‘Groomsman Photo Session’, these deleted scenes suffer from the lack of a commentary or introduction to reveal why they were removed.

Gag Reel (10.58 mins)
Watch a montage of footage of the cast making a hash of their lines and having fun on set.

Trailers
Previews of ‘Star Trek’ and ‘G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra’

OVERALL

The DVD treatment of ‘I Love You, Man’ is one that fans will enjoy. With a good commentary and a collection of funny featurettes and bonus material, this is a really good package that will supply even more laughs.

DVD

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Superbad

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2009