Extract

Complicating things are a lawsuit regarding lost genitalia, and the fact that Kunis’ temp is actually a con woman.

This slightly convoluted plot is sadly not backed up by the performances. It’s okay, it’s not great. It doesn’t live up to the promise of Judge’s earlier films. That being said, there are some laughs, awkward situations and awkward characters. J.K. Simmons plays the assistant manager at the plant and is one of the bright spots in a talented, but sometimes lackluster cast.

All in all, it’s an average movie, nothing special. But if you’re tired of movies aimed at kids, or bros, or you’ve seen all the kid/bro movies and aren’t ready to launch into your Bergman retrospective, maybe this little dark comedy is worth a shot. – [DVD]

Comedy

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 12/22/09

Rudd plays a newly engaged California realtor who gets along famously with the friends of his fiancee (Rashida Jones), and women in general, but has no male friends to speak of and so no prospective best man. That is, until he hits it off with Segel. They bond over fish tacos and rock out to Rush.

To me the film didn’t seem as vulgar as Marshall, especially in how it foregoes any full-frontal nudity by Segel, and so I didn’t mind all the swearing or constant discussions about certain adult activities as much. And it all has a nice, loose-but not too loose-improvisational feel thanks to director and co-writer John Hamburg (Safe Men), who nonetheless could have cut the scene where Rudd educates Jones on said prog-rock band.

Plus it’s reliably funny, from the man-dates Rudd goes on to find a male buddy to Segel’s play-by-play of a guy who won’t fart near his girlfriend, to Rudd’s failed attempts to say “see ya later” in a cool way, to the way Rudd and Segel’s inevitable break-up involves a discussion of Chocolat. There’s also the hilarious fight Segel picks with Ferrigno that ends with Segel in a sleeper hold.

Rudd just seems to get funnier with each film, and here he elicits laughs not only from his expressions, like when a gay man-date (Thomas Lennon) lays a French kiss on him, but also from his tendency to sound Irish when trying imitate Jamaicans or Brits. Not to mention how he slaps his slick jerk of a co-worker (Rob Huebel) in telling the guy to get lost.

Segel’s easy-going man-boy slob made me laugh, too, from little things like telling Rudd not to make Ferrigno (whose house Rudd is trying to sell) mad, to bigger ones, like his string of curses after getting a golf ball to the shin. His role is also the more interesting one, in that he’s essentially a male etiquette mentor for Rudd.

Then there’s the talented supporting cast, most of which has little to do. J.K. Simmons makes a funny impression as Rudd’s dad, whose best friends are Rudd’s gay brother (Andy Samberg) and a guy named “Hank Markdukas.” Jones is fine as the typically sweet and intelligent girlfriend who has typically supportive gal pals (Jaime Pressly and Sarah Burns). Lennon (17 Again) makes the hysterical most of his all-too-brief screen time.

I can certainly see how people might tire of Rudd’s ultimate-nice-guy act, or find Segel boorish and annoying, or even be put off by the seemingly incessant profanity (though Rudd hardly swears at all). I myself could have done without Jon Favreau as Pressly’s overly-aggressive, cigar-chomping husband who constantly belittles Rudd.

But I still liked the movie, and what’s more, I could relate all too easily to the social awkwardness Rudd experiences when trying to bond with other men, be it playing cards with Favreau’s friends or not being invited on a bachelor party/camping trip by some fellow fencing fellows. That alone raisesI Love You, Man a few notches above your average cuss-filled comedy. – [DVD]

Comedy/Romance

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 8/11/09

Zellweger plays an upscale Miami businesswoman accustomed to jogging in the sunshine and driving convertibles who gets assigned by her company to oversee the restructuring of a manufacturing plant in a small blue-collar town smack in the middle of the aforementioned state.

The film follows its genre’s formula to the bland letter, with nary a variation. Zellweger hates the locals and vice versa but eventually warms up to them and falls for one (Harry Connick Jr.) and saves the factory from shutting down and yada yada yada. I’m not giving anything away here, as there’s absolutely no suspense. You’ll see every twist and turn coming from a mile away.

The you-betcha accents will probably remind you of Fargo, but Danish director Jonas Elmer neglects to create any real sense of place and so the characters here come off as merely caricatures to be mocked for their small-town mindset and sayings. Like calling big-city folk “munckees,” referring to P. Diddy as “Puff Diddly” or preferring country music over Fergie.

And Zellweger, a capable comic actress, seems lifeless here, either because she’s miscast, badly directed or simply not interested enough. It doesn’t help that she plays a personality instead of a character, and that the script not only fails to make her sufficiently cold at the outset but turns her nice too soon and too easily.

Add to that the fact that as a screen couple, she and Connick create absolutely no romantic sparks, mostly, I think, because Connick is a better singer than he is an actor. I mean, just watch him as he performs Christmas carols with the townsfolk. He seems positively giddy.

On a brighter note, the film does generate sporadic chuckles in its first 40 minutes or so, as Zellweger gets a high heel stuck in a grate, arrives at a neighbor’s dinner with her nipples showing through her sweater and is asked “Have you found Jesus?” and responds with “I didn’t know he was lost.” And the reliably funny J.K. Simmons (the dad in Juno) gets the film’s best line when he tells Zellweger, “That’s my ex-wife. This is my ex-house. Now I’m paying rent to live in my ex-basement.”

But I laughed consistently whenever Siobhan Fallon (the Lamaze coach with a lisp in Baby Mama) appeared as Zellweger’s secretary, a woman who likes to scrapbook, gossip, protect her Tapioca recipe and let Zellweger know over the intercom that she just rearranged her desk. For sure she absolutely nails the funny stuff, but when she confronts Zellweger at one point she shows she can do serious, too. – [DVD]

Comedy/Romance

Rated PG

DVD Release Date: 5/27/09