What’s funnier than straight dudes bonding?
By Nancy Ford
Previously limited to sucker punches, titty twisters, lack of extended direct eye contact, and poop jokes, the recently identified phenomenon of intimacy between straight men is elevated to new heights in I Love You, Man.
It’s hard not to appreciate nearly everything that the adorable Paul Rudd (Peter) is involved in. We loved him, albeit briefly, in Friends. And his role as the heartbroken sidekick in The 40-Year Old Virgin was just one glimmering facet of that gem of a comedy.
Here, Rudd plays soon-to-be-married Peter, who inexplicably has no go-to guy to serve as his best man at the ceremony.
If the film has a flaw, that flaw is asking us to believe the affable Peter wouldn’t have a slew of friends from which to choose a BM (and there’s your obligatory poop joke): he’s a nice guy, has a hot girlfriend, and doesn’t seem overly needy. Regardless, Peter turns to a stranger, the über-hetero Jason Segel (Sydney), to fill that honored role.
As Peter’s brother Robbie, Saturday Night Live powerhouse and video producer Andy Samberg (“Dick in a Box”) plays it gay, but not screamingly so. That honor goes to Thomas Lennon (“Doug”) who knows a thing or two about playing screamingly gay from his duties on Comedy Central’s long-running Reno 911!
Samberg tells Out magazine that the movie is “a dude-on-dude romantic story that straight guys can feel comfortable watching.
“It’s bro-gay,” Samberg continues, “which I just love, because dudes that are bros and super-antigay are the ones who need to get it the worst. They’re the ones we have the most fun f–king with.”
So true. Unless those super-antigay bros are armed.
The DVD, also available on Blu-Ray, includes the standard bonus-features menu of director’s commentary, a “making of” reel, and deleted scenes, the most potentially tantalizing titled “Gay Bowling League Night.” Jon Hamburg directs. 2009. Paramount Home Entertainment (www.paramount.com).
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