The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad, I Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay and, hell, even The Lord of the Rings trilogy were centred on the bonds between men (or hobbits). And what with Hollywood waking up often to read about gay marriage in the L.A. Times, it’s not altogether surprising that the issue of male love would become the stuff of Hollywood comedies.
In I Love You, Man, the most bromantic comedy to date, Paul Rudd plays a man who is sweet, sensitive and smart – the sort that most straight girls want to meet. He is about to marry a nice girl (Rashida Jones from The Office) but he soon realises that he doesn’t have a male friend to be his best man. Unlike other guys who grew up awkward around women, Paul has long been comfortable around women. It’s men he has a problem with.
And so begins Paul’s desperate – and desperately funny – efforts to find a man. He goes on a few “man-dates” but they turn out disastrously. He then meets Jason Segel (from How I Met Your Mother), an overweight and insensitive slacker who burps loudly and lives in man-cave. Could he be Mr Right?
Directed by John Hamburg, I Love You, Man is hilarious, especially to an LGBT audience. Some jokes become double- or triple-edged when filtered through our gay sensibilities, and a running gag about Paul’s favourite film Chocolat is priceless. There is subversive pleasure in watching two straight blokes explore their deepest feelings for each other, while Paul’s fiance and family – including his gay brother – cheer them on.
In a blockbuster season replete with big-budget spectacles, this charming and compassionate bromance is easily the must-see of the month.