Feel the man love with I Love You, Man, a constantly entertaining comedy about marriage, love, and friendship which is aimed towards adults.

Paul Rudd stars as timid real estate agent, Peter. After proposing to his girlfriend Zooey (Rashida Jones), Peter is left with the realisation that he has no male friends to chose as his best man. Deciding to undertake a search for a best friend, Peter undergoes one disastrous man date after another, including with one un-beknownest gay suitor who kisses on the first date.

After giving up on his search, Peter unexpectedly comes across Sydney (Jason Segal), a brutally honest investor with a taste for divorcees. The pair hit it off, yet their new found friendship places a wedge in his impending marriage.

I Love You, Man is a top class adult comedy, a genre usually targeted towards men, yet in this case will also be enjoyed by women, since the female characters involved are just as funny and raunchy as the guys. Its depiction of homosexuals is also refreshing, and strays from stereotype.

Larry Levine and director John Hamburg have written a sharp and funny script, which Hamburg affectionately brings to the screen with an unflinching eye on male friendships, while thankfully not resonating to gross out comedy, bar one scene involving projectile vomit.     

In Paul Rudd and Jason Segal, Hamburg has cast two actors who bring charm, likeability, and deft comedic chops to his main characters. The definition of Hollywood’s new leading men, Rudd and Segal complement each other very well, with I Love You, Man their third collaboration together, after Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Rudd especially shines in his portrayal as a man braking out of his shell and exploring new possibilities. Rudd’s everyman quality, range, and ability to deliver as both leading man and supporting player makes him an actor hard to pigeonhole, while his stock as a comedic actor has grown quite considerably, thanks to a string of hits starting with his memorable supporting turn as ladies man/ inept new journalist Brian Fontana, in 2002’s Anchorman.

A major factor to the film’s success is the stellar work found in its supporting roles. Jamie Pressly and Jon Favreau are hilarious as a bickering married couple, whose penchant for make-up sex is just as notorious as their fiery public exchanges; J.K. Simmons is in fine Juno mode as Peter’s father; current SNL star Andy Samberg is refreshingly non-caricatured as Peter’s gay brother; and scene stealer Joe Lo Trugilio works his magic as an over excited, high pitched L.A. Galaxy fan.

Also of note is Lou Ferrigno, who plays a memorable and good sported version of himself.

Films of this ilk tend to follow a certain formula. If done right (The 40 Year Old Virgin), it is a pleasure. If done wrong (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) it is a bore. Thankfully, I Love You, Man belongs in the former.