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A number of comedy films that have Jason Segel and Paul Rudd in the cast are among my favorites. These include “Knocked Up” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” Rudd and Segel have an everyman quality that grounds their films in ways that other comedies can’t and because they aren’t over the top, the laughs generally feel bigger and more genuine. “I Love You, Man” fits in perfectly with these types of movies, although it isn’t as riotously funny as some of its predecessors.

“I Love You, Man” focuses on Peter Klaven (Rudd) a man who recently got engaged to his girlfriend and realizes that he has no male friends to flesh out the other side of the wedding party. Klaven starts going on man dates looking for some male buddies and each experience is more humiliating than the last. Eventually, when he isn’t even looking, he finds Sidney Fife (Segel) an eccentric man at an open house who is a great conversationalist and very easy going. The two form a friendship that gets closer and closer and this eventually starts to tick off Klaven’s fiancee’.

There is a lot to like about this movie. Rudd and Segel are fun and their chemistry is palpable. The audience gets to feel like they are hanging out with the pals and it is a very good time even though not very much happens. The supporting cast from Rashida Jones’ Zooey to Jamie Presley and Jon Favreau as some of Peter and Zooey’s married friends is excellent. There is not a bad stretch in this movie but there were fewer big laughs than I thought there would be.

I don’t mean that to sound too much like a complaint, because this is a good movie and one that people looking for a fun date movie would likely enjoy, but if you go from “Knocked Up” or “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” to this, the laugh quotient is noticably smaller.

There are many movies for guys who like movies and lots of them feature explosions and girls in bikinis. This is more like a male equivalent of a chick flick. It has some salty language, cute girls, rocking music and a reminder of why some of our friends are our friends.

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