I Love You, Man (Paramount, 2009)
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Guys are always trying to find new ways of meeting women, but it’s an often-ignored fact that it can be just as difficult for guys to meet guys — at least ones they feel comfortable hanging out with on a regular basis. If, for example, you’re a pop culture writer who moves to a rural part of New England and finds himself surrounded by men who work as plumbers and tree excavators, social gatherings tend to be one long blur of gulped beer and stilted conversation. The standard-issue romantic comedy, meanwhile, is awfully tired — which means John Hamburg’s I Love You, Man, starring Paul Rudd as a lifelong “girl’s guy” in search of platonic male companionship, is a film whose time has come.

Rudd’s character, Los Angeles Realtor Peter Klaven, is a happy guy; in fact, he isn’t even really aware of the sausage deficiency in his social circle until he gets engaged to Zooey (the very funny Rashida Jones) and has to start figuring out who’s going to stand up for him at the wedding — and balance out her gaggle of friends in the bridal party. This leads to a desperate search for a suitable best man — one that finds him fielding potential bromantic companions from his brother (Andy Samberg), the Web, and Zooey herself, but ultimately ends in a chance encounter with Sidney Fife (Jason Segel), a self-described investment consultant whose laid-back demeanor and love of Rush is the perfect match for Peter’s terminal awkwardness. (more…)