Jason Segel and Paul Rudd star in I Love You, Man. (Courtesy Photo)

Directed by: John Hamburg
Starring: Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones, Jaime Pressly, Sarah Burns, Jane Curtin, J.K. Simmons
Rating: R

When you consider all the movie comedies that have been made over the years, it’s hard to believe how few actually stick in your memory. What we best remember is the mood they put us in. You could say I Love You, Man is a hilarious, sweet new buddy comedy, or you could see it’s the continuation of that mood we were thrown into when we saw 40-Year-Old Virgin. That same mood has continued to varying degrees through Knocked Up, Superbad, Role Models, etc. The through-line of this Judd Apatow comedy empire is the slow evolution of the sweet man-child. He has evolved past the Sandler-esque doofus into a guy who is cursed with knowing better. He knows he needs to get his act together and do something with his life. He respects women and truly wants to find the right one. In short, he has taken on half the persona that used to be reserved for the female half of the romance, while holding doggedly onto his video game-playing, sports-loving, rock-star fantasist ways. He has physically come into his own as well, moving from Steve Carell through Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill until settling where he belongs, as Paul Rudd.

Rudd is the ideal comedy leading man of the moment, with the kind of handsome sweetness that turns buddy comedies into romantic comedies and vice-versa. Thanks to Rudd these movies aren’t just for one sex or the other. In I Love You, Man Rudd plays Peter, a reasonably successful real estate agent who has just gotten engaged to girlfriend Zooey (Rashida Jones). Zooey’s best friends Denise and Haley (Jaime Pressly and Sarah Burns) point out that Peter has no close male friends for his wedding party. This comes as quite a blow to the sensitive, attentive Peter, so he sets out to make some guy friends. After a succession of painful “man-dates,” Peter meets Sydney (Jason Segel). Sydney is as cool as Peter is clumsy, as easygoing as Peter is uptight. For the first time, Peter strikes an easy friendship with another man. As the two bond over their love of Rush, Sydney gets Peter to be more open about his relationship, his work life, his personal hang-ups. This, of course, leads to many problems. And then those problems lead to many wonderful, overly simplified solutions.

Rudd and Segel have acted together before, when Rudd hilariously supported Segel in evolving man-child movie number five, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Their camaraderie is loose and infectious. Segel is great, though the perimeters of his range have pretty much been marked. Rudd, who seemed to have been handed his signature part in evolving man-child movie number seven, Role Models, proves that he has still more tricks up his sleeve. Rudd makes Peter agonizingly out of tempo, constantly trying to talk the talk and failing with spectacular results. Rashida Jones, who made it very hard for us to root against her while she was dating Jim on the American Office, transitions very nicely to the big screen. She gets little to do beyond choosing different reactions to Rudd’s behavior, but she’s natural and genuinely funny. Pressly and Burns are fun as Zooey’s best friends. Jane Curtin and J.K. Simmons do their usual fine work as Peter’s parents, and the supporting cast is filled with talented and familiar faces like Mather Zickel (the best man in Rachel Getting Married); Jon Favreau (the world-class Iron Man director makes a pretty good jerk as Denise’s husband); and Reno 911 mastermind Thomas Lennon as a man-date who thinks he’s on a real date.

I Love You, Man is a lot more squirm-inducing than its appears, for the kinds of reasons that made 40-Year-Old Virgin so special. Maybe that’s because it’s co-written by Seinfeld alum Larry Levin and Meet the Parents writer John Hamburg. Hamburg, who also directs, has taken a step forward from Along Came Polly. There are some miscues as well. A subplot involving Peter’s efforts to sell Lou Ferrigno’s house gets to be a bit much. And since the script is smarter than most of its kind, when the plot goes to obvious places (Zooey moves out, Peter and Sydney “break up”), we wish Levin and Hamburg had worked a little harder. And as in most of these man-child movies, the raunchy humor feels less and less welcome. Still, I Love You, Man is appealing enough to reach beyond the targets of cousins like Pineapple Express and Role Models. In the hands of Rudd, the man has just evolved a step further.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, California. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard residents for many years.