I Love You, Man Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

I Love You, Man Blu-ray Movie Review

I love you, 'I Love You, Man.'

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 2, 2009

We're going to find you some friends!

Just when it seems Comedy has sunk to a painful and irrecoverable new low, the genre manages to pull one more trick out of its sleeve and surprise audiences with a fresh story that delivers plenty of honest, gut-busting laughs along the way. Sure to be imitated sooner or later at a theater near you, I Love You, Man marks one of the funniest movies in years thanks to its expert mixture of crude humor, bumbling antics, and surprisingly down-to-earth exploration of the meaning of love and friendship that perfectly frames the wide variety of finely-integrated jokes. Not a Comedy for grandma or the grandkids, I Love You, Man nevertheless takes everything it offers in stride, never overdosing on the crude factor and thereby allowing it to work in context and a little bit at a time rather than simply beating the audience over the head with one vulgar situation after another. Everything that drivel like Miss March gets so terribly wrong, I Love You, Man gets wonderfully right, the result a must-see Comedy that's sure to restore faith in a genre that can't seem to stop digging its own grave.

You've got me...who's got you?

Real estate agent Peter (Paul Rudd, Knocked Up) and his girlfriend Zooey (Rashida Jones, "The Office") are engaged and preparing for the big day. All seems to be going smoothly until they both come to realize that Peter doesn't really have any "guy friends" to share the news of the wedding with and, more importantly, someone he considers to be close enough to serve as his best man. With the help of his brother Robbie (Andy Samberg, Hot Rod), Peter goes out on a series of "dates" with an eclectic group of men that, for whatever reason, just don't fit the bill. Just when Peter has given up hope of making a new friend, he meets Sydney (Jason Segel, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) while at one of his real estate showings, a man Peter believes to be "the one." As their relationship blossoms, Peter's relationship with Zooey begins to fade. Can he successfully balance the needs of both the guy and the girl in his life without wrecking either -- or both -- relationship?

I Love You, Man plays out just like any number of dime-a-dozen Romantic Comedies, but the twist -- the platonic "bromance" (or "brotherly romance") between two men and the process of "falling" for one another in their search for a real friend -- allows the humor to ooze forth from the screen without even trying. There are plenty of instances where the laughs stem from what would otherwise make for a painfully ridiculous and terribly clichéd moment in a typical boy-meets-girl Romantic Comedy. I Love You, Man thrives on its showcase of the "little things" -- the pressure of striking up a conversation, the blind dates gone wrong, and that nervous first phone call, for instance -- that are magnified a hundred fold here simply because of a subtle yet drastic twist in feel. The film delivers a superb montage of sorts where Peter goes out on several "blind dates," finding himself with a man his own age that takes their "dinner date" the wrong way; taking in a soccer game with an L.A. Galaxy fan that lives and breathes the sport; and an elderly gentlemen who fooled Peter into thinking they were the same age by posting a decades-old photo of himself on the Internet. Peter's nervous ramblings throughout the film as he attempts to become more comfortable with the prospect of -- gasp -- talking to another man that moves past the usual workplace small talk makes for some of the best material in the film, capped off by his pitch-perfect performance as he attempts to shake off the nerves before calling Sydney for the first time.

Peter and Sydney make for a great screen couple as two men in search of the same thing but at every turn -- save for their love of music -- find themselves living by drastically different standards. While Peter is a shy and somewhat uncomfortable-in-his-own-skin sort that can't think on his feet and always manages to blurt out a practically incoherent statement in a futile attempt to appear "hip" or "cool," Sydney is the ultimate carefree, cool-under-pressure sort that can't imagine feigning the presence of some veil that obscures who he really is. The two characters work great together, and actors Paul Rudd and Jason Segel share a fantastic chemistry that always makes for an absolutely believable relationship. I Love You, Man also works in large part thanks to its smart and well-paced script that rarely tries to muscle too much humor out of a joke that's worn out its welcome, about the only fault to be found is the slightly overextended play on Peter's bumbling nervous ticks and incoherent phrases, a minor complaint in the grand scheme of the movie. Also featuring noteworthy performances from J.K. Simmons and Andy Samberg, I Love You, Man makes for a thoroughly satisfying Comedy experience that nails its material in every frame.

I Love You, Man Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

I Love You, Man meets up on Blu-ray with a well-done 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer. The color palette serves up a fine array of hues, each looking rather good, though the film takes on an overall warm, reddish-orange tint that carries over to flesh tones. The level of fine detail to be found throughout appears as above-average; the many office supplies and furnishings found in Paul's workplace, or the many knickknacks scattered about Sydney's man cave, for instance, appear with a suitably high level of clarity and texture that tend to bring most every scene to life. Clothing, too, always appears well-rendered in most every scene. The image remains consistently sharp with no one scene appearing abundantly soft, and a fair sense of depth is present throughout. Grain isn't at all intrusive, and the image as a whole takes on a rather nice film-like appearance. I Love You, Man certainly doesn't make for the best transfer ever to grace Blu-ray, but it looks rather good throughout.

I Love You, Man Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I Love You, Man hangs out on Blu-ray with a pedestrian but effective Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. This soundtrack offers up the quintessential Comedy mix, delivering a predominantly front-heavy sound field that sets the stage in every scene but never really comes to life anymore than is required of it. The track's pair of primary sounds -- dialogue and music -- are both delivered with a suitably clear and lifelike presentation. What ambience there is to be found throughout merely plays faintly across the front with little-to-no back channel support. A scene on a crowded Muscle Beach boardwalk offers but a whisper of environmental activity off to the sides in support of the centrally-focused dialogue, while the boys' "jam sessions" in Sydney's man cave or the Rush concert scene doesn't deliver anything close to a powerful, full-fledged recreation of the events. I Love You, Man sounds perfectly fine for what it is; just don't expect anything past the perfectly clear basics.

I Love You, Man Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

I Love You, Man embraces Blu-ray with a rather standard collection of Comedy-centric bonus features. First up is a commentary track with Director John Hamburg and Actors Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. An affable and easily digestible track, the participants begin by speaking on all the ways audiences could be watching the movie -- and leaving out the Blu-ray -- and go on to speak on the Los Angeles locations, working with real-life friends in the movie, the process of shooting several scenes, developing the characters, test audience observations, and plenty more. The Making of 'I Love You, Man' (1080p, 17:29) is a basic piece that briefly examines a hodgepodge of facts, including the history of the script, the assemblage of the cast, the film's story and themes, the creation behind one of the film's special effects, sets, the work of bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno in the film, and more. Extras is a collection of cut-from-the-film moments of improv dialogue for nine different scenes. Rounding out the extras is the obligatory collection of six extended scenes (1080p, 12:39), three deleted scenes (1080p, 3:18), a gag reel (1080p, 11:25), and the film's red band theatrical trailer (1080p, 2:49).

I Love You, Man Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A Romantic Comedy with a twist that breathes new life into old material, I Love You, Man represents one of the absolute best Comedies to grace the screen in a good long while. Featuring a perfect blend of crude and lighthearted humor, a great story, and pitch-perfect performances from its pair of leads, I Love You, Man should satisfy mature genre fans and might even spark a fire underneath anyone that's long since abandoned the modern day Comedy. DreamWorks' Blu-ray release of I Love You, Man is suitable for this style of film. Delivering a quality 1080p transfer, a bland but effective lossless soundtrack, and the expected smattering of halfway informative and halfway fluff bonus features, this Blu-ray release of I Love You, Man earns a hearty recommendation.