Ill-Informed Gadfly

Judd Apatow likes his leading ladies stunning and his leading men schlubby. It’s the formula for his guy-centric romantic comedies. “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” the latest effort from the Apatow gang, stretches this concept farther than ever before. The star, Jason Segel, is spectacularly unattractive, and prolonged exposure to his lumpy-dumpy face and body might cause even the most hetero male viewers to yearn for a Brad Pitt movie. Segel also wrote the screenplay, and to his credit, he finds daring comedy in his deficient sex appeal, appearing fully nude in the hilarious breakup scene that opens the movie. “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” had me at goodbye. Segel plays Peter Bretter, who melts down after getting dumped by the title character, a TV star played by Kristen Bell. Embracing his inner stalker, he checks into the Hawaiian resort where Sarah is staying with her new boyfriend, a dim English rock star played by Russell Brand. Luckily for Peter, a fetching hotel employee played by Mila Kunis takes pity on him. The four leads win you over with their flaws, and they gamely take turns being humiliated. Brand even generates a touch of sympathy for his blithely egotistical sex maniac. And Kunis brings impressive subtlety and maturity to her first major adult role. She’s not just an object of desire, she’s a human being – a recurring theme in the brand of Apatow, who produced this movie. “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” has its draggy and sloppy moments, but it generates loud and sustained laughs from people you enjoy spending time with. It’s hard to ask for much more.

LISTEN: Forgetting Sarah Marshall