Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook

Uproar After NC State Agent 'Fixes' Girl's Lunch Preschooler has to eat chicken nuggets instead of mom's meal »

Sarah Marshall Is Memorable

Apatow project racy, touching, hilarious

By Marcia Greenwood, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 18, 2008 9:40 AM CDT

(Newser) – Forgetting Sarah Marshall is another raunchy romantic comedy from Judd Apatow's repertory company, with an important difference: star/screenwriter Jason Segel. His performance as a clueless spurned boyfriend is "awkward and embarrassing," yet "sweet" and "disarming," writes Scott Tobias of The Onion A.V. Club. Segel contributes "a laugh-a-minute, Flavor Flav-approved screenplay," writes James Verniere of the Boston Herald.

The script also demands that Segel, playing an underachieving music composer, expose himself as vulnerable, quite literally. He appears naked in several scenes, including the moment when he's dumped by his TV actress girlfriend (Kristen Bell of Veronica Mars). Yet, the movie "avoids the gross-out one-upmanship of filth for filth's sake," writes Dana Stevens of Slate.

[Images (2)]

[Videos (1)]

From left, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, Bill Hader and Jason Segel of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" on MTV's "TRL." (AP Photo/Peter Kramer)

Jason Segel stars in and penned the script for "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." (AP Photo/Universal Pictures, Glen Wilson)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

"Forgetting Sarah Marshall" trailer. (grzzenio)

View larger videos >>

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next »

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

New Muppets Movie Is Terrific

Jason Segel, Amy Adams bring franchise back to life

(NEWSER) - Resurrecting a legendary franchise is a daunting task—but Jason Segel, Amy Adams, and the guys behind Flight of the Conchords have done it with roaring success. In the new Muppets film, the stars track down the Muppets in puppet retirement for a whole new show. (It's got a 98% positive rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes .)

“The Muppets won me over, over and over and over again,” writes Christopher Orr in the Atlantic . “Equal parts tender and hilarious, heartfelt and sly,” the movie “is an utter delight, a tidal surge of joyful nostalgia cunningly repackaged and updated.”

Crazy, Stupid, Love Actually Quite Smart

Steve Carell, Julianne Moore star in winning romantic comedy

(NEWSER) - Critics largely enjoyed Crazy, Stupid, Love—and some have fallen head over heels for the romantic comedy with an all-star cast.

In the Los Angeles Times , Betsy Sharkey gushes that the film “may well restore your faith in the very possibility of love, to say nothing of romantic comedies.” The “grand romantic gesture about grand romantic gestures conjures up the bittersweet magic of first loves, lasting loves, lost loves and all the loves in between.”
"It’s the mild exception that makes, if not for a great movie, then at least for a pleasant surprise," writes Rick Groen in the Globe and Mail .

Friends With Benefits a Sexy, Standard Rom-Com

You know where it's going, but you probably don't care

(NEWSER) - Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis may not break any new ground in Friends With Benefits, but critics are largely giving the sex-filled rom-com the thumbs up:

"The jokes don't all work and the topical references can be irritably hipper-than-thou," writes Andrea Gronvall of the Chicago Reader . "But at least director and cowriter Will Gluck (Easy A) aims high."

Bad Teacher Definitely Not Good

Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake star in Jake Kasdan film

(NEWSER) - Bad Teacher has one bad script, critics say—so bad that a good cast can’t make it work. If you’re feeling nasty, though, you may find a few laughs.

In short, it’s “blandly, boringly bad,” writes Ann Hornaday in the Washington Post . “This fitfully funny but mostly dull misfire defines exactly where the line can be drawn between truly subversive humor and lazy cynicism.”

Get Him to the Greek One of Year's Funniest

Jonah Hill and Russell Brand score with Apatow formula

(NEWSER) - Jonah Hill and Russell Brand keep the critics largely amused in Get Him to the Greek, another Judd Apatow-produced flick that has a nervous record exec (Hill) trying to get a troublesome rock star (Brand) from London to NYC to LA's Greek Theatre:

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle : "The golden age of comedy—this new golden age, which will only be apparent years from now, when it's over—continues with the release of Get Him to the Greek, which is so comically fertile and yet so grounded in the reality of its characters that it's really a kind of marvel."
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon : "An awkward, intermittently hilarious and mostly enjoyable mishmash."

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Sarah Marshall Is Memorable