“I Love You Man” Blu-ray Review
Some comedy duos just click and it’s the pairing of Jason Segel and Paul Rudd in I Love You, Man that made the film such a success among critics. Although they’d shared screen time with each other in films such as Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, this film marks the first time the pair really played off each other for any extended period of time and the result is nothing short of an absolutely hilarious comedy. With a whole roster of quotes praising this film (three of the choice ones adorn the jacket art for this home video release), it’s easy to see how this comedy pulled in nearly $90 million worldwide.
Synopsis
In this wildly funny hit comedy, Paul Rudd (KNOCKED UP) gets engaged to the girl of his dreams but has not a single guy friend to be his Best Man until he meets the ultimate dude, Jason Segal (FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL). Rudd and Segal’s “bro-mance” takes male-bonding to hilarious new heights that keep you laughing until the unforgettable last frame.
What this film is, essentially, is just a romantic comedy flipped around (as it deals with essentially the same issues and even ends up the same). This becomes painfully evident in the way Paul Rudd’s character is played, as a ladies’ man without friends and just the way he acts around his fiancée and her friends (as well as coworkers). It’s a very simple concept and the film really won’t win any awards for the plot and story points, as they’re really just slightly twisted and elevated portions of other films that are often played much straighter than this one.
But…that doesn’t matter. What this film is about is the humor and I honestly haven’t laughed as much with a comedy as I have with I Love You, Man since I saw Knocked Up in theaters. Paul Rudd is just an absolutely hilarious individual and I never fail to enjoy whatever production he’s in. Same can be said for Jason Segel who is just fantastic in this film, even right from the start. It’s a brilliant pairing and every single one of the scenes the two shared left me laughing in some way or another. A lot of it is stupid or mindless humor with copious amounts of masturbation, sex, or penis jokes (which all really go hand in hand, but there are varying levels of them), but even with its childishness and predictability, I Love You, Man is an absolutely hilarious way to spend an hour or so.
And it’s not just the two stars of the film that make it worth watching. Scenes with Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg are equally as hilarious, especially the “slappin’ da bass” scene that Rudd shares with Jones late into the film. Even the brief appearances from Jon Favreau as a real dick (a surprising move, considering he’s often rather likeable in films) and Jaime Pressly as his wife were relentlessly entertaining, if a little disgusting (that vomit scene was….just…impressive). Really, I have zero complaints about this film.
OK, so it could have been a little less predictable. It even pulled the “new friend asking for money” shtick late in the film to set us up for disappointment, but in the end, as predictable as it all was, the film was just an ultimate joy for me to watch. It helped that I loved every one of the actors that showed up (including Thomas Lennon, J.JK Simons, Jane Curtin, Joe Lo Truglio, and Aziz Ansari just to name a few). It was also odd to see Carla Gallo in such an abbreviated role, considering how often she’s been popping up in other films and shows lately (most recently for an extended stint on Californication).
Overall I Love You, Man is an overly simple film but I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard with a comedy in ages. Paul Rudd never fails to entertaining and it was amazing just how much this felt like a Judd Apatow production…which is even more impressive when you realize he had absolutely nothing to do with it. Without a doubt one of the most Highly Recommended comedies of the past few years.
The Blu-ray
Paramount releases the film to disc with few frills. A standard Elite Blu-ray case houses the film with plain grey disc art and a firmware upgrade notice. Menus are nicely animated, but there isn’t much else to say about the presentation of the films exterior amenities.
The film itself is an AVC encoded 1080p transfer that looks outstanding. Minor hints of grain can be seen throughout the entire film, but the color palette and…well, pretty much everything about this film looks fantastic. The audio mix, a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 setup, stays to the front channels for the most part. It only really branches out for the music in the film and the Rush concert (which between this movie and the TV shows Futurama and Chuck, I’m going to have to start listening to because they seem to be popping up everywhere). Overall a very fine technical presentation, but comedies never were something that demanded to be seen in high definition…but I Love You, Man at least looks and sounds great while doing it.
Extras are all packed onto the same disc the film and there isn’t a whole lot of material here in terms of menu navigation, but each section of extras is a pretty meaty chunk of content. In all we have:
Commentary by Director John Hamburg, Paul Rudd and Jason Segel
The Making Of (17:29, 1080p)
Extras (22:26, 1080p) Line-O-Rama
Extended Scenes (12:39, 1080p)
Deleted Scenes (3:18, 1080p)
Gag Reel (11:25, 1080p)
Red Band Trailer (2:49, 1080p)
The commentary is a huge joy to listen to, as it’s mostly just Rudd and Segel riffing and joking about their time on the set. Hamburg gets the occasional tidbit about the film’s production or construction, but for the most part it’s a very non-technical and a very laid back commentary track. The making-of is surprisingly in-depth as well, while “Extras” is actually the “Line-o-Rama” style pieces we get off of the Apatow discs usually. The lengthy gag reel is also a delight, although the small bout of deleted scenes is rather surprising.
Overall a very satisfactory package for a fantastic comedy: great A/V presentation, and highly entertaining extras that are genuinely worth watching. Highly Recommended/>.
I Love You, Man arrives on DVD and Blu-ray on August 11th.