I Love You Man?

I am a little perturbed on just how little credit the new movie I Love You, Man is getting. Let me explain.

Judd Apatow and his crew of cronies have really dominated the recent comedic marketplace. Starting with 40 Year Old Virgin, everything Apatow has slapped his name on has gotten Great reviews (Virgin and Knocked Up...his directorial efforts, and Superbad-produced), Good reviews (Forgetting Sarah Marshall..produced and Walk Hard...wrote and produced), and one straight up bust (Drillbit Taylor...produced but denies having any artistic control in the development process.) The new film I Love you Man that came in a respectable third place this weekend, features two Apatow regulars Paul Rudd and Jason Seigel, the film however does not have Apatow any where in sight. I want to make this clear to show one, just how far reaching Apatows influence already is in the marketplace that a film having nothing to do with him is already being compared to his brief film repertoire and two, show how a majority of critics are praising the performances (Rudd and Seigel are spectacular) but brutally criticising either the generic structure, or the shear laziness of the script writing, heaping a crumbling mess on the shoulders of two gifted thesps.

Any other negative reviews out there that does not criticize I love you man based on the above criteria are excused, the rest of you see me right now.

Ok, the MAIN idea, the MAIN concept of the film, the KERNEL of an idea that popped into the writers head was to inject a heterosexual (or bromance) love story into the largely critically panned "chick flick genre". Instead of having boy meets girl, girl and boy fall in love,(INHALE) huge misunderstanding happens that could be cleared up with a phone call that leads to 15 minutes of irreparable damage, which then leads to a 45 second montage set to a whiny star 94 pop song, then leading to a moment of truth brought upon by a quirky best friends sudden moment of contrived sanity, THEN leading to boy and/or girl running to each other (hopefully jumping over or into something in the process) falling happily into each others arms for the rest of eternity (or at least until the sequel or worst, a dancing title sequence) (EXHALE) Why not have a boy who has already found a girl, meet a boy. If you are unclear of the plot synopsis still visit http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1155056/.

SO if you attack the film based on it being a formula flick, you are missing the brilliance of the overall idea. I love you man simultaneously critiques and elevates the genre in which it belongs.

Now, as for it being a "mess" ...ok, call it a mess..it is. But so has EVERY Judd Apatow film. Here is the formula: Funny character banter, simplistic conflict introduced, man conflicts lame! lets have more funny character banter, 3/4's through throw in some sly insight, resolve conflict, end with funny character banter. Do not misunderstand, big fan of what Mr. Apatow is doing to the genre, however don't fault I Love You Man for what you praise in Mr. Apatow's films.

Attack it all or put them on a scale from favorite to not my favorite. But don't disrespect a genuine comedic surprise for being formulaic (when that's its foundation and ace in the hole) or structurally messy (you fault it for that, change your opinion on Superbad which you have seen 15 times!)

Check out the mostly positive but also frustratingly lukewarm reviews at http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_love_you_man/?page=2&critic=creamcrop&sortby=date&name_order=asc&view=