The newly minted “bromance” genre, with its now-familiar mix of the sweet, awkward and raunchy, has entered the cultural consciousness through comedies like “Superbad,” “Pineapple Express” and “Role Models.”

But it reaches its zenith with “I Love You, Man,” starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel as completely different guys who form an unlikely friendship.

Rudd’s Peter Klaven, a sensitive Los Angeles real estate agent who’s about to get married, realizes he has no male pals when it’s time to choose a best man. He’d rather make root beer floats for his fiancee Zooey (the lovely Rashida Jones) and her girlfriends or cuddle with her on the couch for Sunday-night HBO viewing.

Segel’s Sydney Fife enters his life as the most charming force of nature, inspiring Peter to jam along to Rush tunes and tap into his inner rage. He lives in a ramshackle Venice bungalow and functions by his own set of rules, which includes wooing divorcees at open houses and refusing to pick up after his puggle because he thinks dog feces are a healthy part of the environment. Segel gives the character a well-intentioned puppy-doggishness of his own, though, which makes him unexpectedly likable.