Back in March 2009, a sweet little movie starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel hit theatres and *totes mcgotes* rocked my 19-year-old world. It was, of course, called I Love You, Man, and I’m here to tell you that, after 15 years, it still has me wanting to slap some bass with my best friend.
Following an awkward real estate agent (Rudd as Peter Klaven) as he seeks out male friends to fill out his wedding party, I Love You, Man came out in the wake of a wave of dude-centric comedies including 2004’s Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, 2005’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin, 2006’s Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, 2007’s Superbad and Knocked Up, and 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall. And while all of those films also tackle platonic relationships between bros, none of them have aged quite as well as I Love You, Man.
I Love You, Man was reportedly born out of the undeniable chemistry Rudd and Segel shared during their scenes in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a movie that I, admittedly, also have a softness for (“Die, die, die … I can’t”). In any case, they signed on to the film after just one lunch with writer/director John Hamburg, who worked with Segel on Undeclared, directed Along Came Polly, and contributed to the Zoolander and Meet the Parents franchises. Soon after, Hamburg secured the band Rush to make a cameo appearance. And the rest is himbo cinema history. 😎
Peter might be a nice guy (not to be confused with a Nice Guy™️), but he finds it easier to talk to the women in his life (his girlfriend, her friends, his female coworkers) than bonding with men at work, or even his own family members (cue Andy Samberg as Peter’s gay brother Robbie, and J.K. Simmons as Klaven patriarch Oswald). In an attempt to fill the best bud-shaped hole in his heart, Peter goes on a handful of unsuccessful friend dates, including an accidentally homoerotic encounter with Thomas Lennon’s Doug and a vomit-inducing poker night with Jon Favreau’s absolutely heinous Barry. Then one day he finally meets the righteous dude who will become his Best Man: the spontaneous, yet sincere Sydney Fife (Segel).
There’s an instant relatability to Peter and Sydney’s bond, which is forged after an adorable first encounter at a fart-riddled open house. They find common ground over a specific shared interest (Rush, obviously!), which eventually results in marathon jam sessions in Sydney’s man cave. They loan each other Lost DVDs and split footlong subs. They make up silly nicknames for each other (Pistol Pete and … Joben?) and have a natural comedic shorthand. They share intimate details of their lives and show up for each other, physically, emotionally and financially.
While there are certainly some bumps in their road to becoming set-in-stone soulmates, Peter and Sydney clearly care for other and have no problem communicating this, both in private and public. See, for example, the scene when they go to a Rush concert and goofily dance with each other while Peter’s fiance, Zooey (Rashida Jones), looks on in horror. Or when Sydney shows up at Peter and Zooey’s wedding on a Vespa and tells Peter he loves him in front of friends, family members and Lou Ferrigno of TV’s The Incredible Hulk (1977 to 1982).
I Love You, Man is the perfect “bromantic” comedy in that it asks you to treat a new friendship as seriously as you would a burgeoning love affair. And it doesn’t go the “no homo” route that many similar stories do (see: something like The Hangover, which came out the same year), even featuring a few on-screen kisses between Peter and his platonic prospects. Think of it as the Rush of this subgenre: a breath of fresh (and admittedly nerdy) air in a needlessly dirty world tainted by the smoke blown up the asses of misogynistic, mediocre men. 💨
I will admit that I am a bit biased in my love for this film — after all, I have a lifelong thing for Segel playing awkward guys who love rocking out to the soft dude symphony that is “Tom Sawyer” (see also: Nick Andopolis from Freaks and Geeks, a show I will have to dedicate an issue to one day). But I truly believe there is a universal appeal to I Love You, Man and the honest way it portrays how we connect with other people as adults.
Just because you are successful professionally and/or romantically doesn’t mean you’ve got it made in the friends department. And as this movie shows, the older you get, the harder it can be to maintain relationships, even those that have weathered significant challenges (moves, marriages, major fights) in the past. This can be even more difficult for men, who have often been raised to reject any semblance of sensitivity in favour of snide remarks and dick measuring contests.
All this is to say, if you’re a fan of himbo cinema and haven’t given I Love You, Man a chance in, well, 15 years, I highly recommend you give it another go. In a time where we have to suffer through so-so slapstick shit like the recently released Ricky Stanicky (sorry, himbo heroes Zac Efron and John Cena — you remain innocent to me forever and always!), this movie feels like a stroke of genius. And I mean that genuinely and without any hint of horndog cheekiness. 😏
Anyway, I gotta go and psyche myself up for a friend date tonight. Laters on the menjay!
Your pal Emilay