New bromantic comedy pits lonesome loser with his new best friend and soul mate

Bromance is in the air. Just when the world thought ‘Bromance’ was only another reality… Bromance is in the air. Just when the world thought ‘Bromance’ was only another reality television phase, consisting of testosterone-filled men fighting for the platonic attention of handsome California dude Brody Jenner, Hollywood decided it wanted a piece of the action. ‘I Love You, Man’ is a straight-up romantic comedy, but the male-female relationship is moved to the background while the blooming friendship between two men takes the lead. The predicament reveals itself from the very beginning. Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) and his soul mate Zooey (Rashida Jones, aka Karen from ‘The Office’) decide to get married, but they have one problem ‘mdash; Peter has no friends beyond his brainless, weight-lifting brother, therefore he has no best man. With relevance to current dating techniques, Peter turns to the Internet to find his male friend match. But when this search brings him prospects like an old man using a younger picture for his profile and a gay man, Peter decides to give up on the ‘man dates.’ It is not until Peter, a struggling realtor, meets someone at one of his open houses that things begin to turn for the better. Sydney Fife, played by Jason Segel, is a calm and cool womanizer who only goes to open houses to meet newly divorced women, and he happens to share Peter’s passion for the band Rush. It seems like a match made in heaven. Sydney and Peter spend their days shopping for tuxedos and jamming to Rush songs, and Sydney gets the prude Peter to open up about his sex life, even alluding to Zooey ‘returning the pleasure’ to his friend. The problem is that all this oozing man-love between new friends makes the new fiance the third wheel. As expected from director John Hamburg, a name behind ‘Along Came Polly’ and ‘Meet the Parents,’ the movie does not fail to make the audience laugh. Rudd’s character is very similar to Ben Stiller’s character in ‘Meet the Parents,’ always trying to please everyone, but making a complete fool of himself in the process.’ Rudd plays the lovable idiot well. In an effort to sound cool in front of his new friend, he uses different nicknames and slang that don’t make sense. And he admits with seriousness that one of the best nights of his life involved Zooey, a summer salad, a bottle of wine and the movie ‘Chocolat.” Viewers shouldn’t expect any new moves from Rudd, though. His character is strongly reminiscent of just about every other character Rudd has played ‘mdash; the calm and silly type. Segel executes his character, Sydney, with similar comfort, but sometimes his ‘coolness’ gets a little annoying for an adult man. And it might take a couple of hours to get the image of him walking on the beach wearing UGGs out of viewers’ heads. The unexpected delight was the character of Zooey. It wasn’t so much that Jones was a quintessential part of the film, as the giddy yet grounded fiance. It was just nice to see Jones’ ability to conquer a role very different from the sarcastic girl who gets dumped in ‘The Office’ ‘mdash; the character most people know her as. As a whole, ‘I Love You, Man’ is entertaining. And it should be, with a star-studded cast and accomplished comedy writers at its helm. Where it lacks is the plot. It’s difficult to be really enthusiastic about a movie with its main focus being a man’s hunt for another man to fall in friendship love.’ ‘ ‘ In recent interviews, Hamburg denies claims that the movie was influenced by the entertainment industry’s new fascination with ‘bromance.’ He said he hadn’t even heard of the MTV reality show titled after the now overused moniker or its front man, Jenner. Whether Hamburg is telling the truth or not, this fairly recent idea of matchmaking as a male friendship tactic is already getting a little old.