Film review: Platonic friendship only for “I Love You, Man”

Only a few things to like in 'Love' Some good jokes, but the 'bromance' film comes up short ILove You, Man" would be better if it were a different movie.

The jokes are funny enough, some of them. The performances are relatively winning. The only problem is that the topic is not quite interesting enough to merit an entire movie.

You can see why the idea may have seemed clever, at least in theory: Two guys begin a close friendship that mirrors a romantic relationship. It is as if writers John Hamburg and Larry Levin heard the term "bromance" and decide to take it literally.

Paul Rudd stars as Peter, a real estate agent who has always been closer to women than men. The film opens where most romantic comedies end, with a proposal to the girl of his dreams, Zooey, played by Rashida Jones.

Zooey and her friends notice that Peter has no male friends, so Peter essentially decides to audition men to be his friend. These vaguely squeamish scenes are presented more or less as dates, with one poker scene drawing to a particularly funny conclusion.

As is often the case, Peter finds bromance where he least expects it -- at an open house for a piece of property he is trying to sell.

The property is owned by Lou Ferrigno, who was briefly a celebrity when he co-starred in "The Incredible Hulk" in the 1970s. The film's running gags about Ferrigno fall embarrassingly short of being funny, but the fight scene with him is actually more amusing than it appears in the trailer.

Jason Segel co-stars as Sydney, Peter's new BFF. Sydney is in tune with his masculinity -- he nestles in his man cave, he yells at strangers, he lets his dog poop anywhere and he is unusually frank when he talks about sex (the writers would like to be Judd Apatow, but they are not). As the two bond, Sydney helps Peter become more of a man, for better or worse.

The problem is, Rudd and Jones have more chemistry than Rudd and Segel. Normally, that is the way one would expect it to be, with the engaged couple being closer than the friends. But in "I Love You, Man," the friendship needs to pose a significant and believable danger to the romantic love.

Too much of the movie fails to engage the audience, such as Peter's tendency to blather uncomfortably that is much more annoying than the filmmakers probably intended. And the picture runs out of steam, comedically speaking, in the third act.

But "I Love You, Man" could be a lot of fun. If only it were completely changed.