I Love You, Man

Written by Isikins on March 22nd 2009, 2:20 AM (1)

A summation of the film, 'I Love You, Man' ... the word 'fuck' and all it's fucking cognates ... and maybe some talk about George's answering machine. Where could he be? Pictures coming soon.

Isikins's Final Verdict!

OriginalityThe concept has been used several times before, but not at the actual forefront of the movie.

ActingGreat as always from Paul Rudd and Jason Segal. Jaime Pressely was also very funny. A little less cliche would have been nice.

SoundtrackTwo words: Rush, thrice.

PresentationQuality all together. No direction worth calling home over, but that's not the point.

StorylineVery funny, even though it did follow the storyline of any romantic comedy.

EffectsIn effect for jokes and honesty, I give it a 3.5. It got the "dudeness" down, but it did feel a little forced. Almost as if they were saying, "this is a BRO-mantic Comedy."

Overall: 4.0833333333333/5

Agree? Disagree? Impartial? Stupid? Comment on it!

I Love You, Man!

It is a phrase that we, as men, hesitate to use because we are far too afraid to be construed as hell of gay. Not that it means that we are gay people, or that we are afraid of gay people, but it does mean that there are insecurities to how we feel about other dudes, sexually. Is there any sort of homoeroticism in expressing love and companionship for a straight man with whom you've stuck a comraderie? Did I even spell comraderie right? If not ... please comment! My commentlessness is making me feel as though you don't love me, man! Then again, I'm not Roger Ebert so I can't expect the sort of love a pulitzer winner pulls in daily. I can't imagine ever winning a pulitzer either. My writing is too sporatid and attention deficit. I often forget what I am writing about and spout off on numerous amounts of bullshit that makes no sense. I can tell. Remember that pluhbabe I wrote that you didn't read? Turns out I read it, and it was hardly about the news reporter, and it was more about me just saying a whole bunch of stuff just so I can read it over again and think to myself, 'genius.'

Still, there is a tie in to all of this! Here, we have Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) who plays a man who has always been slick and charming with the ladies. When it comes to male bonding and party times with the dudes, he's all left feet. Trust me, I sometimes wish I had the smarts to be smooth with the ladies and in with the dudes. I was introduced to the concept of the 'man-date' which was funny to me. Then I became sad when I realized that I have been on about 1000 man-dates for every one normal date that I've had. I've had several coffee dates, but none of them ever went anywhere. And, to me, prom doesn't even count.

Anyways, Peter finally asks his beautiful girlfriend Zooey (Rashida Jones) to marry him (even after eight months of dating) and they quickly discover that Peter's potential candidates for the best man spot are limited as he has no real guy friends. Even his gay brother (Andy Samburg) is more into hangin' with the dudes. I've seen a few things like that latetly, where the gay man is just another one of the guys, and I actually think the concept is really open-minded. It recognizes gay people as just normal people who are out with friends and hangin' with their pals when the significant other is out doing their thang somewhere else. As they search for a duderino for Peter to chill with, Peter himself comes across a seemingly chill bro by the name of Sidney Fife (Jason Segel) who comes on strong, but turns out to be completely approachable and open minded. Turns out the poor guy just wants another dude to hang out with. 

The two hit it off, head out on a few man-dates (I don't think man-date was really the right phrase here, personally) and before you know it, these guys are going to Rush concerts and covering each other's asses in confrontation with Lou Ferigno. The movie itself deems itself the odd title of the Bromantic Comedy, which is fitting for this particular story. Still, in a time like today, it does call attention to the difficulty men have in meeting new people in new places. Personally, I have no luck with the ladies either, making it especially hard when I am in unfamiliar territory. It all seems so unfair too, because us men weren't given that sort of approachable gene that women seem to pick up on immediately after running into a stranger in the bathroom. Honestly though, doesn't it seem like sometimes women pick up a new best friend as they're walking out of a bathroom in a restaraunt? Not fair, amirite? I mean, I can hardly walk into a Starbucks in San Francisco without feeling the gaze of potential new best buddies without thinking, "I really gotta get the fuck out of here before someone tries to talk to me." I wonder what that says about our sense of self and sense of location in the world at large? Perhaps these questions are much too big in the scope of pluh.com. I gotta keep it simple here, I suppose. You can always check my xanga site if you wanna read some other things. I'll post that later.

Back to the point: The strongest aspect about this movie (besides all the gross-out humor and unexpected Jon Favreau bits) is how blantanly honest it actually is. Judd Apatow (who I suspect had a hand in making this film) seems to have that grasp on the new and ever improving "dude" clique. The not-quite-nerdy-not-quite-charming group that, if I were in any clique, would be the clique I'd place myself in. It's relatable, which makes the situations ever the funnier. Not to mention that it is really, really nice to see a dude like Jason Segal be so popular because it gives me hope for my future as a writer. I heard a story from him (not face to face ... as far as you know) about how after Freaks and Geeks went bust, Apatow pulled him aside and told him that he was really good at playing the sensitive, bordering on creepy guy, and that he is a gifted writer. Sidney Fife, for me, is pretty much that guy. He is the extrovert everyone needs in their life in order to get out there and at least witness the guys say all the things and do all the things you are afraid of saying or doing. I have a friend like that, and though I can't name him, I can say that he's a friend who you love often, and occasionally want smack across the face with a baseball bat. Sidney Fife is that guy ... and he's awesome too. I mean they went to see god damn Rush and they played Limelight. They also played some Tom Sawyer too, and I can tell you right now that it was glorious. No mention of Incubus or The Mars Volta though. Then again, this movie didn't need it.

 

 

WHAT DOES SEINFELD HAVE TO DO WITH THIS?

 

By looking at the movie itself and understanding it's function, pretty much everything. The thing with Seinfeld (other than George not being home) is that it sort of paved the way for the sort of open-ended anything-could-happen at this point mentality. It's another reminder that if Judd Apatow is the savior of new comedy, then he has obviously been sent to this Earth by God ... or as some people call him, Larry David. Now, I don't actually know if Apatow and David have any sort of connection in the world of Hollywood, but you can clearly see where Apatow's influence is. I think it obviously comes from a place of trying to tell a story where not a lot happens, but enough of something happens for it to be panned out into a full feature length. In short, it's an episode of Seinfeld without Jerry, George, Elain, or Kramer, and some stuff happens as opposed to nothing at all. So it's all influence and speculation on my end, and it also gave me a semi-hamfisted excuse to bring up Seinfeld, which is essentially the greatest sit-com ever invented by the human race. Yes, it's even funnier than Mr. Bean, and believe me, Mr. Bean ... really ... really isn't that funny at all, actually.

 

WHICH NOW BRINGS US TO GEORGE'S ANSWERING MACHINE:

Believe it or not

George isn't at home

Please leave a message

At the beep

I must be out

Or I'd pick up the phone

Where could I be?

Believe it or not

I'm not home!

I could go on some 20-page diatribe as to all the possible meanings to this song, and the actual being that is George Castanza ... but I think I am going to leave it up to you on this one. Please, leave a comment and leave me something warm and thoughtful that could be talked about ... that also somehow relates to the lyrics of this parodied song. Yes, I really, really drifted off topic here, but that's not the point.

The point is: I am going to try to introduce a new little thing to this blog where I pose a question and you guys give me some feedback. It could be about a number of things. It could be anywhere from 'Hotdogs or Sausages," to, "How do you feel about AIG's abuse of the bailout money, and do you agree or disagree with their giving that bail money back to the government so that they may use it to fund organizations that work instead of failing businesses." Something to that extent. Actually, that last question may never appear on anything that has to do with pluh ... although sometimes I wish it would. It won't though.

But yeah, I really enjoyed I Love You, Man! And pretty much so will you.

 

I don't know about your mothers, though.