It's rare in today's era of disposable movies to see a film that literally has an entire theater in the throes of laughter. In Paul Rudd and Jason Segel's new film, "I Love You, Man," the comedy is constant, unforgiving and almost painfully relentless in its successful attempts to keep you laughing.
In a recent interview with The Eagle, Rudd and Segel proved that their respective comedic talents are not just confined to the big screen.
"I Love You, Man" tells the story of the straight-laced Peter Klaven (Rudd), a man who has no guy friends and realizes he needs to find a best man for his upcoming nuptials to wife Zooey (Rashida Jones). After going on a series of "man dates" with no success, Peter randomly meets the freewheeling Sydney Fife (Segel), beginning an onslaught of spontaneous bonding moments that begin to show Peter's true, albeit hidden, nature.
"I think it's a long time coming that you've seen a good male platonic comedy," Segel said. "That's what we were going for. And we got it as close to the homoerotic line as possible without crossing it, which I think we both found comedically satisfying."
The film itself does satisfy in everyway. It is filled with its share of gross-out humor - poop, vomit and fart jokes abound - but it is done in a way that one can't help but laugh. If you've liked the past films of Rudd and Segel, it's safe to assume that you'll like "I Love You, Man." The movie is formulaic, but goes about being so smartly - it relies on a sense of humor that has proved successful for its predecessors and wins its bet in upping the ante. The laughs are witty and sharp; the characters are charming and relatable. One could see the audience cringe with familiarity when Rudd's character leaves an awkward voicemail - an act most people are guilty of performing.
The ease of the relationship between the characters portrayed on-screen carried to off-screen as Rudd and Segel prepared for filming the "bromantic" movie.
"Thankfully, we knew each other and so there was a little bit of a built-in familiarity," Rudd said. "And we had made several, several boner jokes before we ever started filming this one, so, you know, we already spoke the same language a little bit ... an actual language called 'bonerist.' We both speak 'bonerist.'"
"Yeah, it's a lot like sign language unfortunately," Segel interjected. "Just drop your pants ... it's mostly just spelling out one letter."
The comedic fluidity between Rudd and Segel in conversation transitions perfectly to screen, creating a duo reminiscent of "The Odd Couple." The repertoire between the various individuals flows naturally and hilariously enough to make one wonder what the percentage of actual script dialogue was used versus improvisation.
The supporting cast - composed of actors like Andy Samberg, Jaime Pressly, Jon Favreau, J.K. Simmons, Jane Curtin and Thomas Lennon - also round out the film, generating an array of characters that never feel unnecessary or overacted, as is so often the case in many other movies of the same genre.
Though "I Love You, Man" isn't anything groundbreaking, it is fresh in its approach and will have you begging for a chance to catch your breath from laughter regardless.
"I Love You, Man" opens in theaters Friday.
You can reach this staff writer at cmoore@theeagleonline.com.
