Digital Sextant

I love you, man

I’d heard a little about this “bromance” before, but hadn’t sought it out.  It’s a funny movie, with an amusing set of characters and funny situations.  A few thoughts:

• The Jason Segel character is a little uneven — he’s  a strange mix of likeable and utter dislikeability.  Likeable: honest and forthright and funny.  Dislikeable: doesn’t clean up after his dog.  There’s no clear sense of why he has these mix of traits.
• I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie with Paul Rudd where he plays such a helpless character.  I’m not ashamed to admit that I saw some similarities to the man in the movie (sensitive, can be friends with women) but he was a bit over the top as well.  I guess that’s how it’s supposed to be.
• It’s a movie with honesty about characters, which is a nice thing.  Despite what I’ve written above, the characters are within the realm of realism and worked for me.  The only character that’s a little extreme is Thomas Lennon’s frustrated gay ‘date,’ but he’s too funny to leave out.
• Boy, Jon Favreau captured the super jerk here.  It just got irritating, though, that Peter kept trying to befriend him.  There’s a certain point at which you stop trying to be nice to assholes, and you just be civil.  Also, nice cameo by Lou Farigno.
• The movie follows the classic romantic comedy plot, with the search for a friend filling in for the search for a lover.  It’s a great twist on a common storyline.  It’s even got the mistake/breakup/resolution finale that all such films must have.

Overall, it’s an entertaining movie that captures well the plight of finding friends as an adult.