Loo.me

On

I Love You, Man is a pretty funny movie.  From what i can tell, everybody likes this movie but nobody thinks is great.  It’s just solid.  I would give it 6.5 or 7 out of 10.

There seems to be a trend in movies where the comedy happens with the main character tries to say something cool like “fo-shizzle” and it comes out totally moronic and you feel bad for him.  This technique came on hard during Superbad when half the stuff Jonah and Michael Cera said while trying to be cool but were actually really dumb.  The trend continues in I Love You, Man when Paul Rudd tries so hard to be chill and laid back yet half the words that come out of his mouth don’t make sense.  It’s funny at first but i think it’s used too much. I think this all started from the movie Tommy Boy when Chris Farley‘s comebacks were incoherent (“your head has a thick candy shell”) and now, twenty years later, there’s an entire movie with it.

Another thing that i found interesting in this movie is the complete reversal of gender roles.  While Jason Segel‘s character (Sydney) is in some ways the stereotypical movie male – a total bachelor who refuses to grow up – the movie doesn’t stereotype his relationship with other males.  In fact, the opposite.  The men in this movie tend to have deep, heartfelt, emotionally deep conversations.  They talk about why they love people and why they are able or unable to open up to others.  The female conversation, on the other hand, is all locker-room talk and the objectification of men.  It doesn’t go as far as Mr. and Mrs. Smith but i still love how this movie flips the typical gender roles.

I wouldn’t let that keep you from the film as it’s pretty funny.  But i was hoping for something a bit more original.

Related articles:

• Film: Review: I Love You, Man (avclub.com)
• Paul Rudd and Jason Segal in I Love You, Man. (slate.com)
• Jason Segel: The Best Man For The Job (npr.org)