This past weekend, another hysterical comedy starring former supporting men turned comic superstars Jason Segel and Paul Rudd came out and made a tidy sum of money (over $18 million, coming in second place for the weekend behind Nicolas Cage's most recent masterpiece) and further entrenched the pair as honest to god bankable movie stars. To me, it's about time Brian Fantana and Nick Andopolis took it to the next level, but their successes coincide with a very interesting time for America.
The Age of the Bromance.
Over the past few years, the word bromance has quickly ascended up, up and away into the cultural lexicon of America. Whether it's in Brody Jenner's unfathomably stupid (and entertaining!) reality show Bromance or on Team Apatow's onslaught of comedies on celluloid, the nation is fully aware of this term for the first time.
Sure, it came about in the 1990's (seriously, there is a wikipedia entry proving it and everything) when some skateboard magazine editor coined it to explain skater to skater relationships, but it's really only taken off lately, existing simultaneously in the stratosphere of pop culture studies like the Soup and Bill Simmons' mailbags, and the gutters of the written word on blogs such as my own (or the Dark of the Matinees study on best movie bromances).
I mean, the biggest comedies these days are no longer grounds for Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. Sorry guys, the romantic comedy is dead. The stage is set for bromantic comedies to take over the world (don't you dare call them buddy comedies), and there is really nothing we can do about it.
Of course, if they are anywhere near as hilarious as I Love You, Man, I say bring on this new age! More Jason Segel, more Paul Rudd, and for gods sakes, more Rush please. I'm pretty sure that any comedy that heavily features Rush, Lou Ferrigno, an awkward and tall character riding a vespa everywhere, and a high pitched work out addict yelling "take it to the top!" will always be welcome in my book.
The point is, take some friends and go catch this flick. You might as well embrace this new day because it's going to be around for a while I feel.