Blu-ray 11th August Releases

I Love You, Man [Blu-ray]

Paramount / 2009 / 104 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: August 11, 2009

Genres: Comedy

Starring: Paul Rudd
Directors:

Plot Synopsis: At once sweet, genuinely funny and painfully awkward, I Love You, Man is that type of film that used to feel like a rare event, but these days is a lot more common thanks to Judd Apatow’s new hit factory. His stock ensemble of actors, writers and directors have managed to hone in on the perfect formula of raunchy and sweet. Apatow wasn’t involved in this production, but his mark is all over it just the same. Paul Rudd has to be the most infinitely likeable man in Hollywood; he manages to capture the ideal blend of sincerity and awkwardness but never comes off as annoying. As Sidney, Jason Segal departs from the neurotic and insecure roles that have nearly made him a household name in Freaks and Geeks and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. He channels instead the endearingly arrogant and emotionally stunted man-boy who is both life of the party and sad clown. The story is pretty simple – making friends tends to get more and more challenging as we get older and more settled into our lives. That’s never been truer than for Peter Klaven, a so-called “Girlfriend Guy” who’s never really had a best guy friend. As Peter begins to plan the rest of his life with the girl of his dreams (Parks and Recreation’s Rashida Jones), the pressure to find a best man and not feel like a friendless freak becomes more intense. Enter Sidney, a Venice Beach-dwelling, super laid back, Rush-loving, vaguely employed (but clearly successful) financial planner with no desire to commit, a room in his house dedicated to all things masculine and an intense desire to have a good time as often as possible. Soul mates, right? As directed by John Hamburg (Along Came Polly, Stella), I Love You, Man is consistently funny and totally relatable. With strong supporting performances from Jones, Andy Samberg, Jon Favreau, Jamie Pressely and even Lou Ferrigno (!), I Love You, Man is a little less raunch and a lot more sweet than some of this crew’s other hits, with quite a few laugh out loud moments.

17 Again (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]

Warner Brothers / 2009 / 102 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: August 11, 2009

Genres: Comedy, teenage drama.

Starring: Zac Efron, Matthew Perry, Leslie Mann
Directors: Burr Steers

Plot Synopsis: Zac Efron breaks free of his High School Musical legacy with 17 Again, leading a pack of fine comic actors in a body-switching comedy that freshens the genre with good ideas. Efron plays Mike, a high-school basketball star who blows a college scholarship in 1989 to marry his sweetheart. Cut to 2009, and late-30s Mike (Matthew Perry) is a sour guy passed over for a promotion and feeling estranged from that wife, Scarlett (Leslie Mann), and teen kids (Michelle Trachtenberg, Sterling Knight). Magical intervention causes Mike to turn 17 once more--albeit in the present--and tackle his failures with a fresh start. As the hot new kid in his children's high school, Mike proves a better father to them as their peer than as a man, while Scarlett sees in him everything that attracted her to her husband two decades before. Writer Jason Filardi and director Burr Steers demonstrate an imaginative and supple wit in such half-expected scenes as Mike's confrontations with a school bully and his unsuspecting daughter's flirtations with him. But it's Efron who carries some truly delicate moments and proves to be genuinely sympathetic when emotions get thick and heavy. Thomas Lennon is also entertaining as a wealthy Star Wars nerd who pretends to be Mike's father, but his slightly excessive screen time suggests the filmmakers weren't entirely sure Efron could do what needed to be done. If so, they were mistaken.

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