Loading...Man, I Love You
Due to the location change of Manifold Media Studios, we didn’t get a Dominion Cast recorded for today. The time normally spent editting the fucker went to viewing a pretty good comedy flick though, Judd Apatow’s I Love You, Man. Few buddy comedies actually delve as deeply and realistically detailed into the dynamics of hetereo male relationships as this new comedy.
Hollywood has a long tradition of the buddy story, especially involving the esprit de corps found in violence: Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour, The Blues Brothers, Turner & Hooch. Only when the “courage” to fully explore these relationships to their naturally gay conclusion is found does the cinema community give them a validating reach-around.
At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, male friendships aren’t shallow covers for closet feelings of faggetry or always dealing with the purile inability to express sibling love as deeply as women do. Since some men are gay means that all men are a little gay, right? WRONG!
OK, Paul Rudd’s character Peter is a bit on the pink side of the Force. He’s gayer than his openly gay brother played by Andy Sandberg. Peter however makes the premise unique: a straight man that socializes like a woman. I’m tempted to name a new genre of social fiction (soash-fi) based on this concept. Sure, I’ve known dudes raised without a father to showcase some bitch-like behaviors – not Truly lady acting as they come out in aggressive defense mechanisms typified by the naturally ball-less (Bee-atches).
Rudd’s performance makes the movie, including his inability be a dude. The attempted usage of macho nicknames is hilarious. This meshes nicely with Jason Segal’s counter point character Sidney Fife. The thirty-something man’s man is hard to objectively assess as he reminds me alot of myself. Insensitively direct and honest. Crazy sense of humor. Inability to connect deeply in a mature realtionship – here he diverges from me. My own singleness was the result of interactions with chicks … not of a Domina calibur. Still Segals more physical comedy – especially the fight with Lou Ferrigno of ALL MAFUCKAS – complements Rudd’s awkwardness well.
The support cast are OK, but this flick belongs to these two. Normally Apatow populates the cast with funny characters outside of the main stars. Such comedic diversity is a feature of his features, and it is missed in this one. Overall, though, a good date movie as its honest sentimentality is a bit too soft for an all guy viewing party. There’s a happy resolution after a brief break, but really it’s not all that mushy. Women may benefit from learning why we love them but need to be with the guys too.
No, seriously, we’re not doing circle jerks on poker night!
Popularity: unranked [?]
Brilliant movie. Personally I can somewhat relate to Paul Rudds character, where it’s much easier for me to make friends with females than with males. And though Im sure somewhere a person identical to his character exist, Im sure the character was exagerated quite a bit. I have a hard time belivieving that a straight man can have absolutely no guy friends what so ever. But hey that just makes a funnier script, and it worked.
I very much aggree too that Rudd did a great job at making this friendship between the 2 of them (Rudd and Segal)perfectly straight and hilarious. I will say though that Segal and Rudd evened each other out where it was almost the perfect comedy. Rudd bought the aukward hilariousness that would really exist in that scenario, and Segal is the classic fun slacker guy, that is usually played perfectly by Seth Rogan, but they got a good replacement
I like that Segal and Rudd got to contrast their characters in Sarah Marshal: Segal – whipped wimp; Rudd – dumb surfer
The intimacy based love triangle was unique too.
I Loved it, Man! I didn’t know what to expect. Again, I’m a big fan of star power and I just didn’t want to hinge my hopes on Rashida Jones and how I kinda liked her character on The Office, but really I just wanted Jim to hook up with Pam. Plus the last time I saw Paul Rudd in anything, he was in another situational puss role as resident man-bitch in Knocked Up (one of my favorites). Jason Segal I didn’t know. In fact, at one point, I wondered if he was British. At the behest of the Dominus, though, I sat still long enough to watch this movie and I laughed until my side hurt. I don’t fully understand the dude dynamic. At 33, I still have lots of questions about boys, but I could related to the feeling of being more comfortable with the opposite sex while trying to forge a bond in terrain that should be familiar but feels more alien. The transition from Peter’s chick-like nervousness about not seeming too desperate to strike up a hetero relationship with [Segal’s character] Sidney was classic, rehearsing his lines and what-not. Eventually, he grew a pair and became a real boy. I’ve watched this movie twice already. It goes in that category with High Fidelity and Uptown Saturday Night, the ‘whenever I want to laugh’ section of my DVD collection.