Forgetting Sarah Marshall

When a pop composer (Jason Segel, who also wrote the script) gets dumped by his TV-star girlfriend (Kristen Bell), he flees to Hawaii to lick his wounds—only to land at the same hotel with her and her new squeeze (Russell Brand). First-time director Nicholas Stoller may have been calling “Action!” and “Cut!” but the movie has the earmarks of producer Judd Apatow: the raunch, the male nudity, the stock-company faces (Segel, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill). And better yet, the frequent laughs—Apatow’s hit-or-miss talent is in good form here, as is Segel, both as writer and hangdog leading man. Brand particularly shines as a priapic British rocker, and Mila Kunis adds an alluring touch of humanity as a sympathetic hotel clerk. The movie has the salacious sweetness of Apatow’s best movie, The 40-Year-Old Virgin.