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View image Jonah Hill, Mila Kunis, Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Russell Brand -- happy to see them all!

My review of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" is in the Chicago Sun-Times and on RogerEbert.com. (Also: "My Blueberry Nights" and "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?.") Here's an excerpt:

Jason Segel's penis probably would not sell a lot of tickets all by itself. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but most of us don't think of the co-star of "Freaks and Geeks," "Knocked Up" and "How I Met Your Mother" in that way. As wise men (and women) always point out, it's not the thing itself that matters, it's what you do with it. And what Segel does with it as star and writer of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" is magnificent. Between his brief nude scene at the very beginning (a humiliating, emotionally naked break-up and breakdown), and his even briefer final one (a welcome reunion of sorts), he discovers quite a lot about himself through his genitalia. [...]

... Segel's script [is] a mash-up of "10," "Modern Romance" and "Better Off Dead...," no doubt enlivened by spontaneous invention on the set. Remember Brian Dennehy as the nurturing bear of a bartender who looks after Dudley Moore in his hours of alcoholic sexual desperation? Here that role is split into two massive resort workers and one laidback beach dude, and they're all funny in their own ways. But there's also a real-world twist: One of the guys with whom Segel feels a vacation-connection turns out to be flying on autopilot, just doing his job the best he can. Not with malicious intent -- it's just his personality, which is probably what got him hired in the first place....

Comments

So, is "Segel's Peter" in the last paragraph an intended or unintended double entendre? Regardless, I laughed out loud. This clearly means I should go watch the movie tonight.

JE: There are plenty more in there. And my headline at RogerEbert.com is: "Members Only." Glad you appreciate phallic puns as I do...

Posted by: Schuyler Chapman | April 18, 2008 05:38 PM

Man, I didn't enjoy this too much. It was just too unfocussed and poorly directed. The only funny bits, aside from Peter's, were in that dinner scene towards the end. That had some great lines, wish the rest of the movie had been like that!

Posted by: Darth Vader | April 19, 2008 09:09 AM

I really enjoyed this movie, it was certainly one of the best comedies (good comedies sure seem few and far between) I've seen in the last few years. Not a perfect movie, but a very good comedy.

Posted by: Jim | April 20, 2008 08:32 PM

"Blueberry Nights". Pretty good trifle of a film that needed a tad more focus. But those scenes in the NYC cafe were delightful. Reminded me of the playfulness during the last half of "Chunking Express".

Jim, did you ever get around to seeing "In the Mood for Love"? Devastates me just thinking about it.

Posted by: Phillip Kelly | April 21, 2008 02:29 AM

I was sort of expecting Forgetting Sarah Marshall to disappoint, but I'd rate it right up there with Virgin, Knocked and Superbad. I laughed out loud throughout. I persist in comparing these loosey-goosey (as opposed to unfocused) gems from the Apatow factory to such noble forebears as the comedies of Leo McCarey. Comedy and character trump plot every time in this sort of thing. I'm not saying Jason Segel should be ranked with The Marx Brothers or W. C. Fields, but fans of those greats don't complain too much about the lack of focus. They're too busy laughing.

Posted by: jbryant | April 22, 2008 06:28 PM