Let the bromance blossom

After years of romantic comedies targeted mainly to women, we are finally confronted with a whole new subgenre: the “bromantic comedy.” By title alone, I Love You, Man fits the mold perfectly.

A bromantic comedy falls somewhere in between romcom and buddy flick, the middle ground making it entirely acceptable to compare the friendship between the two main characters to a romantic relationship. But we’re dudes—we drink beer and slap the bass and talk about masturbation—right? Right …

Paul Rudd, who’s becoming a regular in these types of films (after Role Models, which was funnier), plays a man engaged to a woman with a gaggle of friends—but he has none himself. So off he goes on a mission to find the right “man date,” someone who might stand next to him at his wedding.

Rudd is predictably charming and funny as the awkward Peter, fumbling his words like a teenage girl with a crush. He’s cute, and the best part of this movie. A scene in which he projectile vomits all over a stoic Jon Favreau is alone worth the price of admission.

Peter’s man buddy, Sydney (Jason Segel), is his polar opposite. He’s not interested in relationships, shoots from the hip and talks openly about subjects Peter finds taboo, and is kind of a slob. In contrast, Peter is a suit-wearing real-estate agent who happens to be selling Lou Ferrigno’s house.

Rudd and Segel play well together (both had supporting parts in Knocked Up), but Segel’s Sydney character, especially at first, seems a bit forced, the straight-shooter image a tad overdone, maybe a signal that the How I Met Your Mother star wasn’t quite the right choice for the role. (Writer and director John Hamburg also wrote Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers and Along Came Polly, and while Rudd can certainly pull off an understated Ben Stiller, Segel is a long way from besting Owen Wilson or Robert De Niro.)

The other actors, on the other hand, many of them also stolen from television, fit right in: Rashida Jones (The Office) as Peter’s sweet, down-to-earth fiancée Zooey, Jaime Pressly (My Name Is Earl) as Zooey’s loud-mouthed BFF, and Favreau as her bulldog of a husband, to name a few.

Luckily, any casting flubs are forgotten about halfway through, when the pace picks up and the bromance begins to blossom. It’s cute, like a Never Been Kissed that’s OK for guys to enjoy.